R6 
opy 1 



THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT 



In Its Social and Economic Aspects 



BY 

FRANK F. ROSENBLATT, A. M. 



PART I 



SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS 

FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY 

IN THE 

Faculty of Political Science 
Columbia University 



NEW YORK 
1916 



THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT 



In Its Social and Economic Aspects 



FRANK F. ROSENBLATT, A. M. 



PART I 



SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS 

FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY 

IN THE 

Faculty of Political Science 
Columbia University 



NEW YORK 
1916 



'\ 



Copyright, 1916 

bv 

FRANK F. ROSENBLATT 



NOV 2 WIS 



KATHERINE GOLDING ROSENBLATT 

in appreciation of true comradeship 

this work is dedicated 

by her husband 

The Author 



THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT 



Je ne propose nen, 
je n* impose rien: 
j' expose. 



PREFACE 

Society, like every individual, has a bias of its own: 
while frequently ready to make a lasting sensation of one 
social event, it is just as prone to ignore other phenomena 
of no less historical importance. The study of the nature 
and the causes of the social bias, in the broad sense of the 
word, would be an interesting and grateful task for the so- 
ciologist, while the analysis of the particular social event 
must be confined, according to the nature of the latter, to a 
distinct branch of the so-called Social Sciences. 

The Chartist Movement is one of the tacitly ignored fac- 
tors of the social evolution of the nineteenth century. 
People have always spoken of the personal characteristics of 
John Russell, Disraeli, or Gladstone, far more than of the 
aspirations of several million men who believed in, strove 
and suffered for the cause known as Chartism. By far, 
more has been written of individuals like Robert Owen and 
Richard Cobden than of the whole revolutionary movement 
which embraced a period of more than a decade. The stu- 
dent, indeed, knows from his history that Chartism was a 
political movement ; that the Chartists fought for " six 
7] 7 



8 PREFACE [8 

points " which were embodied in the People's Charter. He 
undoubtedly knows also the funny side of the story, and, to- 
gether with the writer of his history, mocks those fraudulent 
fellows, the Chartists, who affixed the signatures of Queen 
Victoria and a few other high dignitaries to the petition 
of almost one-fifth of the English nation. Incidentally, 
one meets some attestation of Chartism as " the only genu- 
ine, earnest, serious, popular movement in England since the 
days of the commonwealth," 1 and hears that "the story of 
the great social movement which is comprised in the history 
of Chartism is of greater importance than the disputes of 
the Whigs and Tories." 2 But it is a rather curious fact that, 
excepting Gammage's History of the Chartist Movement, 
which lays no claim to any scientific analysis of the move- 
ment and its causes, there is not a single work in the 
English language devoted to the subject which might satisfy 
the more earnest student. 

The aim of this work is not only to give a fair and im- 
partial presentation of the facts, but also to make an attempt 
at their interpretation and to show their interrelation. The 
social life of England during the first half of the last century 
in all its important aspects will have to be brought into the 
limelight. The political situation must, of course, serve as a 
background for the picture of a movement carried on 
ostensibly for political reform. But the study of none of 
the social and political conditions can be compared in weight 
with the analysis of the strictly economic state of that period. 
Indeed, whatever we may think of the Materialistic Con- 
ception of History as a general philosophy, there can hardly 
be any doubt that in all the struggles of labor, the " bread 

1 William Clarke, Political Science Quarterly, vol. iii, i888, p. 555. 

2 Spencer Walpole, History of England from the Conclusion of the 
Great War in 1815, London, 1886, vol. iii, p. 5<x>. 



9] 



PREFACE 



and fork question " is the very seed of historical causation. 
Regarding the Chartist Movement primarily as a labor 
movement and as the first compact form of class struggle, 
the author, therefore, deemed it necessary, after a succinct 
survey of the political situation, to devote the first part of 
his work to a careful examination of the economic condi- 
tion in general and the labor condition in particular which 
prevailed in " Merry England " immediately before and 
during the period of the Chartist Movement. 

The present monograph comprises only the first stages of 
the movement. The original intention to publish an ex- 
tensive study covering the whole period could have been 
carried out only by going to England for the purpose of 
collecting additional material. This design was frustrated 
by the present war. It has therefore become necessary to 
divide the work into' two volumes, the second of which, the 
author hopes, will appear at a later date. 

In the preparation of this work, it was considered essen- 
tial to guard against personal predilections and sympathies. 
The material was collected with care from first-hand 
sources ; the facts were presented without any design to fit a 
pet theory ; and the heroes of the story were allowed to intro- 
duce themselves and to play their roles without any stage- 
managing on the part of the historian. It is, perhaps, on 
account of this impartiality and lack of prejudice that some 
portraits vary materially from those which have been hither- 
to drawn. 

In conclusion, the author wishes to acknowledge his pro- 
found gratitude to Professor Edwin R. A. Seligman both 
for the interest he has always taken in this work and for 
the privilege of using his invaluable collection of Chartist 
literature and documents. 

F. F. R. 
April 22, 191 6. 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Preface - 7-9 

CHAPTER I 

Prototypes of Chartism 

Chartism and the " six points " 21 

Distinct labor movement . 21 

Expression of class consciousness 21 

The Levellers and Cromwell 22 

Society of the Supporters of the Bill of Rights 22 

Pitt, the Earl of Chatham 22 

Reform bills introduced by William Pitt 22 

Stanhope and Major Cartwright. . . 23 

The Whigs and aristocratic clubs 23 

Reform bills introduced by the Duke of Richmond and Fox . . . 23-4 

Society for Constitutional Information 24 

Government coalition in 1783 24 

Metamorphosis caused by the French Revolution 24 

The Duke of Richmond's letter on equality 25 

Burke's Reflections on the French Revolution 25 

Thomas Paine's Rights of Man 26 

The London Corresponding Society 26 

Government policy of oppression 27 

Suspension of Habeas Corpus act . 27 

Radicalism revived after the Napoleonic war 27 

The Corn Laws of 1815 . 27 

William Cobbett and the Hampden Clubs 28-30 

Society of Spencean Philanthropists 3 1 

Riots and new suspension of Habeas Corpus act 31 

Benefit Societies and Botanical Meetings 3 2 

The Manchester Massacre 3 2 

The struggle for freedom 33 

The Reform Bill and the National Political Union 33 

CHAPTER II 

The Whig Rule 

Hopes inspired by the Reform Bill of 1832 34 

Ricardo's theory of rent 34 

11] 11 



12 CONTENTS r I2 



PAGE 



Burden of taxes 34-5 

Selfish motives of manufacturers 34 

Reform Bill condemned by "Orator" Hunt and others 35 

Lord John Russell, the hero of the Reform Bill 36 

Thomas Attwood and the Birmingham Political Union 36-7 

Political corruption and inactivity 37-9 

Notorious Bedchamber Plot 40 

Old Poor Laws 40 

Competition between workingmen and paupers 41-2 

New Poor Law of 1834 42 

The "workhouse test" 42 

Poor Law Bastiles 42 

Opposition to the New Poor Law • 43-5 

Bill passed under protest 45 

Stringency of administration 45-6 

CHAPTER III 

The New Poor Law 

Philosophy of the new law . 47 

Negligence of children on the part of officers ...«„.. 48 

Cruelties perpetrated in workhouses 49 

Lord Brougham's frankness. 50 

Cobbett's opinion of the new law 50 

Bronterre's tribute to the " Money-monsters " . 50-1 

Feargus O'Connor on excessive use of machinery 51 

Brougham's hatred of charity 52-3 

' ' Stepping stone ' ' to total abolition of relief 53 

Carlyle's comments 54-5 

Effects disguised for some time 55 

The Irish famine , 55 

Distress in the Highlands and Islands 55 

Emigration to industrial centres 56 

Dwelling conditions in cities 57-8 

CHAPTER IV 

The Universal Distress 

General unemployment 59-60 

Weavers first victims 60 

Birmingham deputation b 61 

Laissez faire policy 61 



I3 ] CONTENTS 13 



PAOK 



Condition in agricultural districts 61-2 

"Not the time " plea against repeal of Corn Laws 63 

Rise of prices of wheat - . . 63 

Distress among the workingmen 64 

Scourge of industrial cities 65 

Variation of mortality 65 

Progress of crime 66-7 

Proportion of commitments to population 67 

Persons in receipt of outdoor relief 68 

Workhouse inmates 68 

Petitions for repeal disregarded 69 

CHAPTER V 

Labor Legislation and Trade Unionism 

Whigs hostile towards labor legislation 7° 

Campaign against evils of factory system led by ultra-Tories . . . 70-1 

Freedom of contract and laissez faire doctrine 71 

Ten Hour Movement 7 1 

Nassau Senior's "last hour" argument 72 

Government reports 7 2 

Ashley and his followers 73 

Employment of women and children 73~4 

Attempts at trade unionism in the beginning of factory system . . 75 

The Six Acts of 1810 75 

Francis Place and his victory 76-7 

New stratagem of labor leaders 77 

Influence of Ricardian socialists <■ ■ 77 

Owenism and Trade Unionism 7§ 

The manufacturers and the Government 79 

Nassau Senior's view on combinations and strikes 79 

Grand National Consolidated Trades' Union crushed 80 

New fight for freedom 81 

Apotheosis of political power 81 

Bronterre's call for z grand national movement 82 

CHAPTER VI 

The People's Charter 

The London Working Men's Association and its objects 84-5 

Exclusiveness of the Association 86 

Source of social evil 87 

" The Rotten House of Commons " 88-9 



j 4 CONTENTS [i 4 

PAGE 

Missionaries on tour 89 

The "Six Points" . 90 

Crown and Anchor meeting. . 90 

Roebuck and other radical members of Parliament 90-1 

Committee of twelve 91 

Prorogation of Parliament 91 

Birmingham Political Union enters campaign 92 

Correspondence between William Lovett and Lord John Russell . 92 

Address to Queen Victoria 93 

Address to American workingmen 94 

Preparation of bill by Lovett and Roebuck 95 

Publication of " People's Charter " 95 

Address on principles of Charter 9S - 7 

CHAPTER VII 

The Leaders 

Most auspicious period 98 

Two parties in Chartist ranks 98 

Policy of moral force 99 

Advocates of physical force welcomed 100 

Class legislation condemned 100 

Discord suppressed for a time 101 

William Lovett and his early career 102 

First London Cooperative Trading Association 102 

Follower of Robert Owen 103 

Metropolitan Political Union 103 

National Union of the working classes 103-4 

Founder of London Working Men's Association 104 

Personal characteristics 104-5 

Feargus O'Connor's early career 105 

Quarrel with Daniel O'Connell 106 

Personal characteristics • 107-8 

Opposed to Communism 109 

Machinery the source of all evil no 

Inclined towards revolutionary policy no 

Founder of London Democratic Association no-ill 

Repudiated terrorists in 

Bronterre's early career 112 

His account of himself 1 12-13 

Literary activities 113 

Admirer of Robespierre and Babeuf 113 

Personal characteristics 114 



I5 ] CONTENTS I5 

FA*M 

His view on the franchise 114 

Theory of nationalization of land 115 

His view on private property 117-118 

Failed to recognize laws of social evolution and role of the working 

class 119-120 

Thomas Attwood an advocate of moral force 120 

Founder of Birmingham Political Union 120 

Leader of Birmingham Currency School 120 

Advocate of paper money and inflation of currency 120 

Henry Hetherington, martyr for free-press cause 121 

Poor Alan's Guardian and Twopenny Despatch 121 

Missionary of the London Working Men's Association 121 

CHAPTER VIII 
The Gospel of Revolt 

Lovett, the apostle of moral force 122 

O'Connor and Bronterre yielded to the inevitable 123 

J. R. Stephens, the apostle of revolt . . . .> 123 

His early career 123 

His oratory 124 

Preached class consciousness and urged insurrection 124 

Resistance to bad laws a virtue 125 

His sermon at Newcastle 126-7 

Opposition to the New Poor Law 129 

His allegiance to the Charter 129 

Emphasized economic aspects of the movement 129 

Attitude of the London Working Men's Association 129 

His warning against abortive demonstrations 130-2 

Lost his influence 132 

C. J. Harney, agitator of physical force 132 

Hailed the spirit of Marat . 133-4 

Henry Vincent, the English Demosthenes 135 

His early career 135 

Missionary of the London Working Men's Association 135 

His popularity ." 135 

John Frost and his early career 136 

His imprisonment 136 

Adherent of Cobbett 137 

Advocate of municipal reform 137 

Member of Newport town council 137 

Mayor of Newport 137 



j6 contents [16 

PASS 

Appointed borough magistrate ... 137 

Poor Law Guardian 137 

Member of Newport Workingmen's Association 137 

Chartist leader 137 

His relations with people 137 

CHAPTER IX 

The People 

State of ominous excitement 138 

Underground societies 138 

" Foreign Affairs Committee " at Birmingham 138 

Demonstration at Glasgow 139 

Thomas Attwood 139 

Suggestion of a " sacred strike " 139 

Provincial Scotch merchants and manufacturers . • ■ 139 

Newcastle manifestation 140 

Defiant speeches 14° 

Feargus O'Connor 141 

Reference to Brougham 141 

Appearance of troops causes indignation 14 1 

Meetings at Sunderland and Northampton 142 

Addresses by Vincent and others 14 2 

Birmingham demonstration 14 2 

O'Connor and Attwood 14 2 

Physical force notions introduced 14 2 

Resolutions for National Petition and General Convention . . . 143 

Anxiety among leaders of the London Working Men's Association 143 

Palace Yard demonstration in London 143 

Allusions to physical force 144 

Birmingham call endorsed 145 

Address of the London Working Men's Association to the Irish 

people ..... • • . . . 145 

Manchester demonstration 146 

Threats of vengeance 146 

O'Connor, Stephens and Fielden 146-7 

Peep Green demonstration • 147 

Henry Vincent in the West 147 

His supremacy in Welsh territory 147 

Torch-light processions 148 

O'Connor, Stephens and Harney chief speakers 148 

People making arms 149 

Stephens at the Hyde meeting 149 



17] CONTENTS 17 

PAGE 

Lord John Russell's letter declaring torch-light meetings illegal . 149 

His address at Liverpool 149 

Royal proclamation trampled under foot 150 

Chasm between workingmen and middle class 150 

Vincent and female organizations 150 

People invoked to prepare arms 151 

Military instructions - 151 

" Science of killing " extolled 151 

Agitation among soldiers 152 

CHAPTER X 

The Petition, The Convention and The Government 

Proposals emanated from the moral force group. . 153 

Equal representation omitted 153 

Petition lacking in vigor of expression and definiteness 153 

Influence of Thomas Attwood 153 

Generous response of men and women. 154 

Opening of Convention . . 154 

Objects of Convention . . 154-5 

Presentation of National Petition postponed 155 

Variety of problems discussed j^g 

Addresses on the general distress distributed broadcast ...... 156 

First collision between opposing factions 156 

Lovett elected secretary !^6 

Missionaries of the Convention ^7 

The London Democratic Association and Harney ........ 157 

Resolutions submitted to Convention 157 

" Crown and Anchor " meeting cause of hostile criticism 158 

Resignation of three Birmingham delegates 158-9 

The " million of men " idea 160 

Vincent's exhortations to be prepared 160 

Resolution of Convention on the right to use arms . 161 

Government spies 161 

Lord Russell and John Frost 162 

Frost's defiant letter 162-4 

Open hostility between the Government and the Chartists .... 164 

Frost's name. struck from the roll of magistrates 165 

Indictment of Stephens 165 

Convention declared an illegal body 165 

Arrest of Vincent 165 

National Petition and Attwood 165 

Convention adjourned to Birmingham 166 



1 8 CONTENTS [ x g 

PAGE 

Lord Russell's letter to magistrates 166 

The Manifesto of the Convention 166-8 

Simultaneous meetings and " ulterior measures " 168-9 

Advocacy of terror and insurrection 170 

London police in Birmingham 171 

Recommendations of the Convention to the simultaneous meetings. 172 

Success of the simultaneous meetings > 172 

Reasons for the removal of the Convention to London ...... 173 

Resolutions on the sacred month and other measures adopted. . 173-4 

CHAPTER XI 
The Wrestling Forces 

The Bull Ring attack in Birmingham 175 

The spirit of vengeance and terror 176 

The resolutions of the General Convention 177 

The arrest of Lovett and Collins 177 

Prisoners subjected to indignities 178 

Proclamation of martial law and wholesale arrests 178 

The daily meetings at Holloway Head and other places 178 

The Bull Ring riot '. 178 

Public meetings and resolutions 179 

The National Petition in Parliament 179 

Attwood's speech 180 

Lord Russell's reply 180-2 

Disraeli's interpretation of the Chartist movement 182 

The division on Attwood's motion 183 

The effect of the defeat on the Convention 183 

The sacred month resolution passed and rescinded 183 

Bronterre's resolution on the sacred month 184 

The recommendation of the committee of five 185 

The national holiday a complete failure 186 

The dissolution of the Convention 186 

Arrests and trials for sedition 186 

The theory of the Attorney-General 186 

The trial of Lovett and Collins 186 

The resolution of the Birmingham Town Council 186 

The jury 187 

Sergeant Goulburn's " opportunity " 187 

Lovett's address to the jury . 187 

Comments of the Morning Chronicle on the defence 188 

Conviction of Lovett and Collins 188 

Convictions of Stephens and other Chartists 189 



1 9] CONTENTS jg 



PAGE 



Public meetings and demonstrations 189 

Lovett and Collins subjected to rigorous discipline 189 

Petitions in their favor 189 

Henry Vincent and his imprisonment 190 

The jury ipo 

Remonstrances and protests by Welsh Chartists 190 

The Newport Riot 190 

CHAPTER^XII 
The Newport Riot 

The role of Frost 191 

The plot to release Vincent by force 191 

The plan of a rising in Yorkshire and Lancashire 191 

O'Connor's late warning 152 

Frost's last public letter 192-4 

The plan of the Welsh Chartists 194-5 

Frost, Williams and Jones the chief commanders 195-6 

Steps taken by the mayor ig7 

The progress of the rebels impeded by bad weather 197 

The fight at the Westgate Hotel 197-8 

George Shell's letter to his parents igg 

The arrests of the rebel leaders igg 

The mayor and constables rewarded 200 

The Chartist Convention in London and the defence committees . 200 

The Special Commission 200 

The trials of Frost, Williams, Jones and others 201 

The sentence 201 

The decision of the Court of Exchequer 202 

The anguish of the Attorney General 203 

Death sentence commuted to transportation for life 204 

Decoration of the graves of the Westgatefvictims 204 

Imprisonment of Bronterre, O'Connor, and others 205 

The distribution of Chartist prisoners 205-6 

The government victory 206 

The new recruits 207 

Appendix A 
Petition agreed to at the "Crown and Anchor " meeting, February 

28, 1837 • 208 

Appendix B 

The People's Charter 213 



20 CONTENTS [ 2 o 

PAGE 

Appendix C 
The National Petition 234 

Appendix D 

Dialogue on war, between a moral force Whig and a Chartist, by 
Bronterre 239 

Index 245 



CHAPTER I 

Chartism means the bitter dis- 
content grown fierce and mad. 
... It is a new name for a 
thing which has had many- 
names, which will yet have 
many. — Carlyle. 

Prototypes of Chartism 

The term Chartism was coined in 1837 to designate a 
set of principles which were subsequently embodied in the 
famous " People's Charter ". Universal suffrage, equal 
representation, annual parliaments, no property qualifica- 
tions, vote by ballot, and payment to members — these 
formed the " six points " which for a number of years 
eclipsed all other political and social creeds. At its inaugu- 
ration the movement attracted a number of recruits from 
the ranks of the middle class. In time, however, Chartism 
became ever more crystallized as a distinct labor struggle 
for the reconstruction of society. The form of the de- 
mands were purely political, but the object was strictly 
economic. Political equality was proclaimed as the only 
weapon to secure equality of condition and the abolition of 
class privilege. The concomitant social equality would 
then pull down the mountains of wealth and fill up the 
valleys of want. The task could be effected by the work- 
ingmen only. Cooperation of the middle class was gener- 
ally tabooed as spelling imminent treason and danger to the 
people's cause. It was this expression of class conscious- 
ness and realization of class interests that distinguished 
Chartism both from Utopian socialism and from previous 
democratic movements in England. 

Long before the Chartist demands were framed in the 
21] 2I 



22 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [ 2 2 

People's Charter, political reform, of one kind or another, 
had been urged by the friends of the people. The spirit of 
democracy, which had been quelled by Cromwell's defeat 
of the Levellers, revived a century later. Indeed, some of 
the Chartist " points " were promulgated as early as 1769 
by the " Society of the Supporters of the Bill of Rights," 
which, among other parliamentary reforms, demanded equal 
representation and annual parliaments. Petitions were for 
the first time presented to Parliament, protesting that its 
members were not self-representing individuals, but trusted 
delegates whose authority ceased the very moment they 
disregarded the wishes and interests of their constituents. 
Pitt, the Earl of Chatham, soon pronounced himself a con- 
vert and professed that " the constitution intended that 
there should be a permanent relation between the constit- 
uents and representative body of the people." On the first 
of May, 1 77 1, he asserted that "the act of constituting sep- 
tennial parliaments must be repealed. . . . Our whole con- 
stitution is giving way, and, therefore, with the most delib- 
erate and solemn conviction, I declare myself a convert to 
triennial parliaments." x His son, William Pitt, went even 
further, declaring that " the restoration of the House of 
Commons to freedom and independency, by the interposition 
of the collective body of the nation, was essentially necessary 
to our existence as a free people " ; that an equal represen- 
tation of the people by annual elections and the universal 
right of suffrage appeared to him " so reasonable to the 
natural feelings of mankind, that no sophistry could elude 
the force of the arguments which were urged in their favor." 
The bills which he introduced in 1782, 1783 and 1785 pro- 
vided for the extension of the franchise to householders, 
and for the gradual extinction of all rotten boroughs. 
William Pitt was far from being an extremist among his 

1 Chatham Correspondence, edited by W. S. Taylor, Esq., and Cap- 
tain John Henry Pringle, London, 1840, vol. iv, p. 174. 



23 ] PROTOTYPES OF CHARTISM 23 

colleagues. The writings of Stanhope and of Major John 
Cartwright appeared as early as 1774 and 1776, respectively, 
and demanded universal suffrage as a natural right. In his 
Legislative Rights of the Commonalty Vindicated, Cart- 
wright argued that " freedom is the immediate gift of God 
to all the human species," and that the franchise is a pre- 
requisite of freedom. " The very scavenger in the streets 
has a better right to his vote than any peer to his coronet, or 
the king himself to his crown ; for the right of the peer and 
of the king are derived from the laws of men, but the 
scavenger's from the laws of God ". This idea became so 
popular that the Whigs began to consider it advantageous 
to identify themselves with the reformers. Aristocratic 
clubs, such as the " Constitutional Society ", the " Whig 
Club ", and the " Society of the Friends of the People ", 
vied with each other in radicalism and in their emulation 
of the idealistic maxims of Rousseau and the French En- 
cyclopedists. In 1780 the Duke of Richmond introduced a 
bill for universal suffrage and annual parliaments. The 
preamble contended that since the life, liberty and property 
of "every man is or may be affected by the law of the land 
in which he lives, no man is, or can be, actually represented 
if he has no vote in the election of the representative whose 
consent to the making of laws binds the whole community. 
The state of election of members of the House of Commons 
was declared as a gross deviation from the " simple and 
natural principle of representation and equality." In sev- 
eral places members were returned by the property of one 
man while the number of persons who were suffered to 
vote did not amount to one-sixth of the whole community. 
The great majority of the commoners were thus governed 
by laws to which they had not consented either by them- 
selves or by their representatives. 1 Triennial and septen- 

1 Compare this with the preamble of the "People's Charter". See 
Appendix B. 



24 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [24 

nial Parliaments were described as tending " to make the 
representatives less dependent on their constituents than 
they always ought to be ". The same year Charles James 
Fox, the Whig leader and Chairman of the Committee of 
Westminster Electors, recommended the very same " six 
points " which were later embodied in the " People's Char- 
ter ". The " six points " were also urged by the " Society 
for Constitutional Information ", which included among its 
leaders a number of the most distinguished members of the 
English nobility, such as the Duke of Richmond, the Duke 
of Bedford, the Earl of Derby, the Earl of Effingham, the 
Earl of Selkirk, Lord Mountnorris, and others. 

The bright prospects of Major Cartwright and his adher- 
ents, however, soon came to an end. The germs of radical 
ideas, which had infected the nobility, began to spread also 
among the lower strata. The alarmed government found 
itself in a lurch, and its peace of mind had to be bought at 
the price of coalition in 1783 between Lord North, the 
representative of the government, and Mr. Fox, the spokes- 
man of the Whigs. This coalition brought about a com- 
plete metamorphosis in the attitude of the Whigs, which be- 
came the more intense during the French Revolution. A 
feeling of abhorrence swayed the professed reformers 
against all societies which were suspected of revolutionary 
ideas. All attempts at parliamentary reform were doomed 
to crushing defeat. The former illustrious advocate of re- 
form, Edmund Burke, agreed in this matter with his rival 
Pitt. In his great zeal he stigmatized the people as a 
" swinish multitude ", and led the Whigs in their support of 
the government policy of oppression. 

The adhesion to the government on the part of the aris- 
tocracy was the natural reaction of their optimistic ideal- 
ism which evaporated when brought under pressure of active 
life. They had believed that the doctrine of " natural, un- 



25] PROTOTYPES OF CHARTISM 2 $ 

alienable and equal rights " could be disseminated among 
the people with perfect safety to their own class and tradi- 
tions. Some even went so far as to contend that "equality" 
was a safeguard against "levellers". This view was eluci- 
dated by the Duke of Richmond in the following extract of 
his letter to Lieutenant-Colonel Sharman : 

Another subject of apprehension is that the principle of al- 
lowing to every man an equal right to vote tends to equality 
in other respects, and to level property. To me it seems to 
have a direct contrary tendency. The equal rights of men to 
security from oppression, and to the enjoyments of life and 
liberty, strike me as perfectly compatible with their unequal 
shares of industry, labor and genius, which are the origin of 
inequality of fortunes. The equality and inequality of men 
are both founded in nature; and whilst we do not confound 
the two, and only support her establishments, we can not err. 
The protection of property appears to me one of the most 
essential ends of society; and so far from injuring it by this 
plan, I conceive it to be the only means of preserving it; for 
the present system is hastening with great strides to a perfect 
equality in universal poverty. 1 

The French Revolution led some of the English aristoc- 
racy to realize that abstract ideas of equality and natural 
rights meant absolutely nothing to the common people, un- 
less they went hand in hand with concrete equality in dis- 
tribution of wealth. Moreover, they learned that the ab- 
stract idea of natural rights was the treacherous snake that 
goaded on the people to demand concrete equality, and they 
determined to avert this at any cost. Burke's Rejections 
on the French Revolution, published in 1790, preached a 
crusade against Republican France, as well as against 
French principles in England. The Re-flections exerted a 

1 The Right of the People to Universal Suffrage and Annual Parlia- 
ments, August 15, 1783 (published in London, 1817). 



2 6 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [ 2 6 

deep influence on the men in power, but at the same time 
gave an impetus to the counter activities of the radicals. 
The Rights of Man by Thomas Paine, the exact antithesis 
of the Reflections, gained a wide circulation among the 
middle and lower classes. The arduous task of reform was 
taken up by the " London Corresponding Society ", which 
was founded by Thomas Hardy, a shoemaker. Counting 
but four members at its inauguration, the first meeting in 
1792 was attended by nine individuals, all personally ac- 
quainted with each other. Encouraged by the endorsement 
of the Duke of Richmond, the Society jealously began to 
spread its tenets all over the United Kingdom and, within 
a short period, attained importance and celebrity as one of 
the largest radical organizations. The government, in its 
alarm, was led to believe that " there were evil-minded per- 
sons in the country, who, acting in concert with other per- 
sons in France, designed to overturn our happy constitu- 
tion, and introduce a system of bloodshed and plunder." 
The war with France in 1793 was primarily a war against 
Jacobinism, and Pitt, who was always seeing visions of 
" thousands of bandits ", was logically compelled to combat 
the foe within the country. Numerous spies were employed 
to shadow the steps of every suspicious person, and on the 
testimony of these spies, many were subjected to severe 
penalties. A certain Mr. Frost, an attorney, was sentenced 
to six months' imprisonment, to stand in the pillory and be 
struck off the roll, because he had dared once in a coffee- 
house to declare himself " for equality and no king ". A 
well-known Mr. Ridgway was sentenced to four years' im- 
prisonment and £200 fine for selling Thomas Paine's Rights 
of Man. The former friends of the " London Correspond- 
ing Society" began to see treason in its activities. Two dele- 
gates sent by this society to Scotland in 1793 were arrested, 
tried, convicted, and transported for fourteen years. In its 



27] PROTOTYPES OF CHARTISM 2 j 

report of 1794, the Secret Committee of the House of Com- 
mons claimed to have discovered seditious practices. It was 
this report that was chiefly responsible for the suspension of 
the habeas corpus act. 1 Pitt declared the matter urgent, and 
the bill was passed at a special sitting the next day after its 
introduction by the government. Fox openly accused the 
ministers of a design to terrorize the people in order to 
shield themselves from the condemnation for involving the 
country in a disastrous war. The government became in- 
exorable in its oppression of associations, as well as of 
individuals. Reform bills were introduced only to encoun- 
ter ignominious defeat. All reform societies were dis- 
banded, all public meetings prohibited, and reformers were 
rendered innocuous either through imprisonment or intimi- 
dation. For nearly two decades the English people lived, 
as it were, in a state of internal siege. 

Radicalism had been crushed to revive again, however, 
with much greater force, after the war cloud, which hovered 
over Europe for almost a quarter of a century, was dis- 
persed at Waterloo. The war made England a world- 
monopolist. Foreign manufacturers, writhing under the 
sword of Damocles in their own countries, invested their 
capital in England which alone was safe from foreign in- 
vasion. By virtue of the complete monopoly of Great 
Britain as a water-carrier, English trade was carried on 
in the remotest parts of the world. All this changed with 
the end of the Napoleonic career. The demand for English 
manufactures suddenly shrank, capital was withdrawn, and 
labor thrown out of employment. The disbanded militia 
and discharged sailors greatly swelled the ranks of the un- 
employed. Symptoms of discontent which were local in 
the beginning, soon became universal and burst into violence 
after the passage of the Corn Laws in 181 5. Owing to the 

1 Cf. Address to the Nation of 1797 by the "London Corresponding 
Society," in the English Chartist Circular, vol. ii, no. 54. 



2 8 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [ 2 8 

failure of the harvest and the high import duties, the price 
of wheat during 1816 rose from 52s. iod. to 103s. yd., and 
jumped still higher during the first months of 1817. 1 To 
urban riots, many of which were not suppressed without 
bloodshed, and to machine-breaking were added peasant in- 
surrections and incendiarism. Flags were hoisted with 
ominous mottoes, like " Bread or Blood " ; " Willing to 
work, but none of us to beg ". The distress assumed 
threatening proportions. The attention of Parliament was 
called to the fact that whole parishes had been deserted, 
and the crowd of paupers, increasing in numbers as they 
went from parish to parish, spread wider and wider this 
awful desolation. 

The failure on the part of the House of Commons to 
alleviate the condition of the distressed revived the feeling 
of hostility towards the government, and political agitators 
soon emerged from obscurity. Parliamentary reform was 
again urged as the panacea for all social evils. But this 
time the demand emanated from a group of men entirely dif- 
ferent from their predecessors, the reformers of the eight- 
eenth century. They came not from the ranks of aristo- 
cracy and they appealed not to aristocracy. They were 
humble writers of " two-penny trash ", and their writings 
were intended for the still humbler workingmen. The mem- 
bers of the radical clubs of the eighteenth century, as Burke 
aptly argued against them, conceived reform not as a means 
of expediency and necessity, but as a means of advancing 
justice. The later reformers cared very little for abstract 
ideas; they demanded political equality as a necessary 
weapon in the daily struggle for existence of the lower 
classes, and their Hampden Clubs became the haunts of 
courageous men. The writings of William Cobbett 2 be- 

1 Cf. Thomas Tooke, History of Prices and of the State of the Cir- 
culation from 1793 to 1837, vol. i, London, 1838, p. 390. 

2 William Cobbett (1762-1835), one of the most prominent and bril- 



29] PROTOTYPES OF CHARTISM 2 g 

came the New Testament in almost every cottage in the 
manufacturing districts. According to his contemporaries, 
Cobbett's Political Register was read at " meetings of 
people in many towns, and one copy was thus made to 
convey the information to scores of persons," 

liant journalists of the first half of the nineteenth century and one of 
the most remarkable personalities, was a descendant of a humble family 
and the son of a laborer, who came to have " laborers under him." He 
could not remember the time when he did not earn his own living. In 
1783 he established himself as an attorney's clerk, but before long the 
erratic lad began to feel himself shackled by the routine and drudgery 
of his office. He enlisted in the 54th Foot, and sailed to America, 
where he stayed with his regiment for seven years. After his discharge 
he went for a short time to England. There he accused three of his 
former officers of fraud, was courtmartialed and fled back to America. 
He settled in Philadelphia, where he maintained himself and his wife by 
teaching English to French immigrants. He founded a daily paper, 
which he styled the Porcupine Gazette, and wrote abusive articles 
under the pseudonym of " Peter Porcupine." He bitterly attacked the 
American Republic and the most popular men of the country. His 
journal soon brought him into trouble and he fled again, this time to his 
native country, in order to escape the payment of a penalty of 5,000 
dollars for libel. In England he was welcomed by the Tories, and 
with their aid published at first the Porcupine and, then, in 1802, the 
Register, which led a guerilla warfare with the pillars of society, and 
which before long obtained the most powerful influence all over the 
country. The Tories became indignant with his behavior and waited 
for an opportunity to get square with their former protege. For his 
severe attack on the government for employing German soldiers to 
flog English troops who participated in a mutiny, he was indicted for 
libel, sentenced to two years' imprisonment and fined £2,000. This 
sentence taught Cobbett a useful lesson of which he availed him- 
self after his release: he learned how to advocate reforms without 
giving the government prosecutor a probable chance of success. From 
prison he emerged an extreme Radical and Revolutionist. He earn- 
estly believed that the social evils would be remedied by political re- 
forms and stopped short of nothing that aimed at the attainment of 
these reforms. As a member of Parliament, to which he was elected 
in 1830, he attacked 1 the New Poor Law, and, with the exception of a 
few eccentricities which he displayed, as, for example, his prejudice 
against the Jews and his opposition to the Anti-Slavery movement, he 
remained till the last, as Southey called him, "an Evangelist of the 
populace." 



3<D THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [30 

In justice to Cobbett, it must be said that originally his 
idea was to make the people realize the want of reform 
and to offer constitutional guidance, " combined with firm- 
ness and temper." He hoped to inspire the masses " with 
patience and fortitude " and avert their sporadic outbursts 
of violence and machine-breaking. As to the Hampden 
Clubs, they had great faith in " the noblemen and gentle- 
men " of whom they were composed, and in the several hun- 
dred petitions to Parliament, asserting that in such wise 
they will " insure a redress of that intolerable grievance, 
taxation without representation, which has been the true 
cause of that universal distress which the nation now 
suffers." x 

The government, however, felt great apprehension at the 
activities of the clubs. Their perfect organization was in 
itself something which could not be overlooked. The House 
of Commons had great cause to be alarmed at the report of 
its Secret Committee of the 19th of February, 18 17, which 
portrayed the Hampden Clubs as disseminators of rebellion : 

It appears to be part of the system of these clubs to pro- 
mote an extension of clubs of the same name and nature, so 
widely as, if possible, to include every village in the kingdom. 
The leading members are active in the circulation of publica- 
tions likely to promote their object. Petitions, ready pre- 
pared, have been sent down from the metropolis to all so- 
cieties in the country disposed to receive them. The com- 
munication between the clubs takes place by the mission of 
delegates ; delegates from these clubs in the country have 
assembled in London, and are expected to assemble again 
early in March. Whatever may be the real objects of these 
clubs in general, your Committee have no hesitation in stating, 
from information on which they place full reliance, that in far 

1 See the Political Register of Dec. 21, 1816; the Full Report of the 
Proceedings of the meeting, convened by the Hampden Clubs . . . on 
Saturday, the 15th of June, 1816; also Samuel Bamford, Passages in 
the Life of a Radical, London, 1844, vol. i. 



31 ] PROTOTYPES OF CHARTISM ^ 

the greater number of them, and particularly in those which 
are established in the great manufacturing districts of Lan- 
cashire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, and Derbyshire, and 
which are composed of the lower order of artisans, nothing 
short of a Revolution is the object expected and avowed. 

As a matter of fact, however, the Hampden Clubs were 
rather conservative in their demands and moderate in lan- 
guage in comparison with the "Society of Spencean Philan- 
thropists," which was instituted in 1816 for the discussion 
of " subjects calculated to enlighten the human understand- 
ing." Besides their opposition to machinery and their doc- 
trine of communism in land, these " Philanthropists " en- 
deavored to " enlighten " the people that " it was an easy 
matter to upset government, if handled in a proper manner." 

History repeated itself. To paraphrase the " Declara- 
tion " of the Hampden Club, the want of reform made the 
people feel, and misery made them speak. Meetings of 
protest against the government and the notorious riot at 
Spa Fields brought about the new suspension of the habeas 
corpus act. As to what this meant, the following lines 
of Samuel Bamford may bear witness : 

The proscriptions, imprisonments, trials and banishments of 
1792 were brought to our recollections by the similarity of our 
situation to those of the sufferers of that period. It seemed 
as if the sun of freedom were gone down and a rayless expanse 
of oppression had finally closed over us. Cobbett, in terror 
of imprisonment had fled to America ; Sir Francis Burdett had 
enough to do in keeping his own arms free; Lord Cochrane 
was threatened, but quailed not. Hunt was still somewhat 
turbulent, but he was powerless. . . . Our Society became 
divided and dismayed; hundreds slunk home to their looms, 
nor cared to come out, save like owls at nightfall, when they 
would perhaps steal through bye-paths or behind hedges, 
or down some clough, to hear the news at the next cottage. 1 

1 Samuel Bamford, op. cit., vol. i, p. 44. 



32 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [32 

The suspension of open meetings was followed by the 
formation of various secret societies aiming at reforms 
which again were almost identical with those for which 
the Chartists subsequently fought on penalty of imprison- 
ment or transportation. " Benefit Societies ", " Botanical 
Meetings ", and similar ostensibly innocent associations 
called for revolution as the only means for redress. The 
suffering masses were assured that reform would produce 
economy and consequently diminish taxation, which, in its 
turn, would enable the workingman to increase his home 
consumption. Taxation without representation again, as a 
few decades before, was denounced as the root of all evil. 
All petitions for reform were, as ever, rejected by the gov- 
ernment. The wrath of the people, which for some time 
had been smoldering under the cover of secret meetings, 
finally broke out in 18 19 in a series of defiant public demon- 
strations at Birmingham, Leeds, Stockport, Smithfield, and 
other manufacturing districts, and culminated in the Man- 
chester Massacre of August 16, 1 819. A large demonstra- 
tion, estimated at about eighty thousand persons, was indis- 
criminately attacked by military forces. Unable to pene- 
trate the compact mass of human beings, the cavalry plied 
their sabres to clear a way for the yeomanry, who dashed, 
wherever there was an opening, pressing, trampling and 
wounding hundreds of men, women and children. The 
massacre precipitated bitter protests from all over the land. 
The authorities tried in vain to minimize the real signifi- 
cance of the outrage by declaring it a mere accident. The 
working class was overwhelmed with the feelings of re- 
sentment and of revenge, which were admirably voiced by 
Shelley in his " Mask of Anarchy " : 

"And at length when ye complain 
With a murmur weak and vain, 
'Tis to see the Tyrant's crew 
Ride over your wives and you — 
Blood is on the grass like dew. 



33] PROTOTYPES OF CHARTISM 33 

Then it is to feel revenge 

Fiercely thirsting to exchange 

Blood for blood — and wrong for wrong — 

Do not thus when ye are strong." 

Protests passed into action. The agitators declared the 
Kingdom in a state of Civil War. The general disaffection 
was attributed directly to the irritation of want and eco- 
nomic injustice. 1 Revolt and anarchy reigned supreme in 
all manufacturing districts. The agitator Thistlewood 
found many adherents to his plan to overthrow the govern- 
ment. Executions for high treason became common events. 
But nothing could curb the awakened slave, who, together 
with Shelley, felt that his very life depended on "Freedom" : 

" Thou art clothes, and fire, and food 
For the trampled multitude — 
No — in countries that are free 
'Such starvation cannot be, 
As in England now we see." 

The workingmen were taught and led to fight for 
" clothes, and fire, and food ", and to consecrate their very 
lives to the cause of freedom, which they confounded with 
universal suffrage. Mis-government was considered the 
source of all social evils, and the control of Parliament was, 
therefore, looked to as the only remedy by which the whole 
world might be relieved. The French Revolution of 1830 
gave a fresh impetus to the popular discontent. The middle 
classes promptly seized this opportunity to enroll the sup- 
port of the National Political Unions of workingmen to 
their Reform Bill. After the passage of the Reform Act 
of 1832 the political agitation subsided for a few years 
only to assume a more formidable aspect in the Chartist 
Movement. 

1 See Gracchus, Letter to Lord Sidmouth on the Recent Disturbances 
at Manchester, London, 1819. 



CHAPTER II 

The Whig Rule 

The fourth decade of the nineteenth century was a period 
of trial for the English nation and brought a series of bitter 
disappointments to its lower strata. To begin with, the poli- 
tical machinery of the Whig rule, which at its inauguration 
had inspired great hopes, soon fell into a state of stagnation 
and absolute incompetence. The people, who at the beginning 
of the decade were all exalted with aspirations for social 
justice, for equality and fraternity, saw themselves de- 
serted and their cause betrayed by their standardbearers. 
The honeyed promises of the middle class, made through 
their representatives in the beginning of the thirties, were 
but the baits of politicians who turned recreant upon the 
achievement of their object. It became evident that their 
aim had been simply to wrest the power from the landed aris- 
tocracy, and to further their own interests. Their craving 
for political power was in accord with the economic doctrine 
of rent, which was promulgated by Ricardo, the first mouth- 
piece of the capitalist class. According to this doctrine, 
rent is a transfer of wealth from the capitalist to the land- 
lord ; rent and profit fluctuate, therefore, on opposite scales, 
— the rise in the former necessarily causing a fall in the 
latter. The scales were controlled by the landlords, and it 
became a matter of prime importance to reverse this control. 
The Corn Laws were a thorn in the side of the manufac- 
turers, and all taxes were attacked as a baneful burden on 
industry. Sydney Smith gave expression to this sentiment 
in his characteristic style: 

34 [34 



35] THE WHIG RULE 35 

The schoolboy whips his taxed top, the beardless youth man- 
ages his taxed horse with a taxed bridle on a taxed road, and 
the dying Englishman, pouring his medicine which has paid 
7 per cent into a spoon that has paid 15 per cent, flings him- 
self back upon his chintz bed which has paid 22 per cent, makes 
his will on an £8 stamp, and expires in the arms of an apothe- 
cary who has paid a license of £100 for the privilege of putting 
him to death. His whole property is then immediately taxed 
from 2 to 10 per cent. Besides the probate, large fees are de- 
manded for burying him in the chancel. His virtues 'are handed 
down to posterity on taxed marble, and he will then be gath- 
ered to his fathers to be taxed no more. 

There were, indeed, few who during the fight for the 
Reform Bill realized that the interest of the manufacturers 
in the reform movement was actuated by selfish motives. 
The organ of the radical group of the working class, the 
Poor Man's Guardian, had on various occasions, in 1831 and 
1832, warned the laborers that " the bill will only increase 
the influence of landholders, merchants, manufacturers and 
tradesmen ", and that it was the " most tyrannical, the most 
infamous, the most hellish measure," as the poor " will be 
starved to death by thousands if this bill pass, and thrown 
on to the dunghill, or on to the ground, naked like dogs." 1 
The national Union of the Working Classes denounced the 
bill as a mere expedient " to deceive the people, and no ways 
calculated to better the condition of the working people." 
" Orator " Hunt 2 was even more emphatic in his condemna- 

1 See " Last Warning on the Accursed 'Reform Bill," in the Poor 
Man's Guardian, April 11, 1832. 

2 " Orator" Henry Hunt (1773-1835), at one time the friend of Cob- 
bett and a member for Preston, was a Somersetshire gentleman and a 
liveryman of London. In his youth he was committed to the King's 
Bench Prison for six weeks as a penalty for a duel which he had fought 
with Lord Bruce. In prison the young Tory came in contact with 
some discontented persons and listened to a great deal of inflammatory 



36 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [36 

tion of the bill, root and branch, as an instrument of restric- 
tion and as an attack on the poor. But Hunt was de- 
nounced as a " demagogue " and " egotist ", while Lord 
John Russell, the hero of the Reform Bill, was almost uni- 
versally applauded for his speech in favor of the bill. He 
showed the absurdity and the crying injustice of the system 
of election which had prevailed in England and which had 
allowed a " green mound " or a " stone wall, with three 
niches in it", to send two members to Parliament, while 
large flourishing towns, full of trade and activity, contain- 
ing vast magazines of wealth and manufactures had no 
representation. 1 The sympathies of the masses were de- 
cidedly in favor of the bill. With the exception of a small 
radical faction, the workingmen rallied round Thomas Att- 
wood, the leader of the Birmingham Political Union, who, 
according to Francis Place, 2 was then regarded " the most 
influential man in England ", and who was credited with 
having worked the hardest to carry the Reform Bill. 

The secret, however, soon leaked out that the working 
class had been hoodwinked. Before long the Whig leaders 
began to speak of their old popular allies, " the Birming- 
ham fellows ", with affected indifference and open hostility. 
They hated to be reminded of the National Political Union, 

talk, which decided his future activities, and he emerged a thorough rad- 
ical. He was " the best mob orator of the day, as Francis Place puts it, 
and his uncompromising views and actions gained him the name of 
"demagogue " from his opponents, on the one hand, and of " champion 
of liberty" from the lower classes, on the other. He played an im- 
portant role in the riots of 1816, and was usually referred to as the 
hero of Spa Fields and the Peterloo Massacre. His gigantic figure 
and carriage, as well as his histrionic manner of talking, rendered him 
an idol of the masses, and, while hated by the well-to-do people, he 
found solace in the love and devotion of the oppressed and poor. 

1 Cf. Lord John Russell's speech of the 1st of March, 1831, in Han- 
sard's Parliamentary Debates, third series, vol. ii, pp. 1061-1089. 

2 Cf. infra, p. 76. 



37] THE WHIG RULE 37 

which had elevated them into power. Lord Melbourne 
confessed his strong opposition to " any radical measure 
or radical colleagues ". l The treachery on the part of the 
Whigs was the more revolting because of the false expec- 
tations they had raised : 

It is painful, at this day, — testifies a contemporary reformer — 
to look back upon the delirium of joy which followed the suc- 
cess of this effort for real representation. That long, loud, 
universal shout of gladness which shook the earth and rose 
up to heaven, gave testimony to the hold which the idea had 
taken of the nation's heart. Wisely was it concealed from 
them at that moment of excitement, that they had scotched the 
snake only, not killed. 2 

The protest against the Act of 1832 was spontaneous on 
the part of real reformers. It was assailed for having 
opened up " a sluice gate of the most intolerable oppres- 
sion ". The object of the bill was condemned together 
with its sponsors. " The men who made the Reform Bill 
were not fools ; neither were the middle classes, for whom 
it was made. The Whigs saw, and the middle classes saw, 
that the effect of the bill would be to unite all property 
against all poverty." 3 Thomas Attwood, who had exerted 
the greatest influence to secure the passage of the Reform 
Act, declared that he regretted that he had worked for the 
reform which brought " troops of sycophants and time- 
servers " to the legislative chamber. The Whigs were 
stamped as a party for the dishonest, for the timid and for 
the unscrupulously ambitious, and their rule as the suprem- 
acy of the " hypocritical, conniving and liberty-undermin- 
ing Whigs ". 

1 J. T. Bunce, History of the Corporation of Birmingham, Birming- 
ham, 1878, vol. i, pp. 128-9. 

* Tract published by the Complete Suffrage Union, The Rise and 
Progress of the Complete Suffrage Movement, London, 1843. 

3 Bronterfe's National Reformer, Feb. 11, 1837. 



38 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [38 

The attitude of the radicals towards the ruling party can 
be seen from the characteristic picture drawn in one of the 
Chartist papers under the caption " What is Whiggery?" x 

A Whig is a political shuffler, without honor, integrity, or 
patriotism. Dissimulation, selfishness, and baseness are his 
prime moving principles. In private life he is a stately despot, 
and a surly tyrant; cunning, hypocrisy, and falsehood are too 
frequently familiar to his mind, and he sometimes treats his 
workmen (if he has any) more like a gang of convicts than 
a useful band of honest, independent mechanics. If, as some- 
times happens, they refuse to submit passively to his injustice 
and cruelty, they are persecuted and reviled, and compelled 
to seek refuge from his malignancy beyond the limits of his 
arbitrary authority. . . . When the Whig is a mighty poli- 
tician, he courts public favor, smiles graciously on the people, 
makes glorious promises of reform, cajoles and flatters them, 
until he gets them to assist him in advancing his selfish schemes. 
But he treats them with ingratitude and contempt, when they 
afterwards remind him of his obligations and request him to 
perform them. 

The commissions of inquiry became a byword of political 
corruption and inactivity: 

Set them to make a report on any public subject, give them, 
for example, a brief to fill up against the poor and the Poor 
Laws, and they will do it to their employer's satisfaction ; it is 
their vocation faithfully to serve those by whom they are paid, 
or hope to be paid, and little of conscientious responsibility 
to truth or justice is felt in the execution of the appointed task. 2 

The rampant political favoritism was also strikingly satir- 
ized by Sydney Smith, when he said that if you met a Whig, 

1 The Chartist Circular, May 2, 1840. 

8 The Black Book: An Exposition of Abuses in Church and State, 
Courts of Law, etc., London, 1835, appendix, p. 61. 



39] THE WHIG RULE og 

whom you had never seen before, your doubt was " not 
whether he was a commissioner or not, but what the depart- 
ment of human life might be into which he had been ap- 
pointed to inquire ". The hero of the Reform Bill, Russell 
himself, who in 1831 accused the landlords of usurpation 
of power in violation of the Constitution of the country, 
according to which " no man could be taxed for the sup- 
port of the State who had not consented, by himself or his 
representative, to such tax ", soon became an accomplice to 
such usurpation, derided the demand for universal suffrage 
and went down in history with the well-deserved nickname 
of "Finality Jack". 1 

The Whigs became even more unpopular after their elec- 
tion in 1835. They had come in on promise of retrench- 
ment and, instead, they increased taxation ; they had vowed 
reforms and, when in power, forced upon the people the 
odious New Poor Law. The assertion that " Whigs and 
Tories are the two thieves between which this nation has 
been crucified " 2 was not the conviction of but one indi- 
vidual. The Reformed Parliament discussed everything 
except what Carlyle styled " the alpha and omega of all 
questions ", — " the condition-of-England question ". The 
reformers were satisfied, as the bard Praed puts it : 

To promise, pause, prepare, postpone, 

And end by letting things alone. 

In short, to earn the people's pay, 
By doing nothing every day. 

The ruling party was detested not alone by the radicals. 
Ex-Chancellor Lord Brougham, who despised the latter, 

. 1 

1 The nickname was derived from a phrase of his speech of June 23, 
1837, in which he referred to the Reform Bill as a " final measure." 

* See R. W. C. Taylor, Notes of a Tour in the Manufacturing Dis- 
tricts of Lancashire, London, 1842, p. 271. 



40 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [ 4 q 

expressed the sentiment of many a conservative when he 
said in 1839: " I have little thought to have lived to hear 
it said by the Whigs of 1839, ' Let us rally round the 
queen; never mind the House of Commons; never mind 
measures; throw principles to the dogs; leave pledges un- 
redeemed; but, for God's sake, rally round the throne'." 
Disraeli also laid great stress on the irresponsibility of the 
Whigs, although he exaggerated the significance of the 
political causes in the Chartist movement. 1 

The Whigs were crushed by their own incompetence and 
treachery even as early as 1838. The notorious " Bedcham- 
ber Plot ", which brought down a tempest of ridicule on 
the heads of the chivalrous Whigs, gave them a chance for 
shelter " behind the women's petticoats ", but only for a 
short time. The people, disgusted with their perfidy, lost 
all confidence in them and overwhelmingly defeated them 
at the next election. Their rule, however, was the more 
ignominious because of the great economic distress and 
physical and moral degeneration which prevailed during 
their administration without any serious attempt being 
made by the government at alleviation. Indeed, so appall- 
ing was the wretchedness as to be almost beyond credence, 
were it not for official records of that period. This wretch- 
edness was, to a great extent, the direct result of the New 
Poor Law of 1834 and its administration by the Whigs. 

The chicanery and bribery on the part of the landlords, 
and the fraud and perjury on the part of the paupers, 
fostered by the old Poor Laws, made their repeal impera- 
tive. The industrial, as well as the agricultural districts, 
were turned into headquarters of permanent pauperism 
with all its revolting consequences. Riots, incendiarism, as- 
sault and murder became common events. Under these 

1 See Hansard's Parliamentary Debates, third series, 1839, vol. xlix, 
pp. 246-251. 



4 i ] THE WHIG RULE 4I 

laws the able-bodied and efficient pauper was denied the 
right of voluntary choice of settlement. The kind of work 
and his income were fixed by the magistrates, who could 
very seldom ascertain the man's previous earnings. The 
parish authorities were demoralized to the very marrow and 
looked upon the parish as upon their prey. The pauper 
had to be satisfied not only with the master they had chosen 
for him, but also with the woman they had made him marry. 
The injudicious provisions and application of the old 
laws put a premium on laziness and pauperized not only 
indigent men, but also the respectable classes of mechanics : 

I am every week astonished by seeing persons come whom I 
never thought would have come, — reports Mr. Chadwick, one 
of the Poor Law Commissioners. — The greater number of our 
out-door paupers are worthless people; but still the number 
of decent people who ought to have made provision for them- 
selves, and who come, is very great and increasing. One 
brings another; one member of a family brings the rest of a 
family. . . . Thus we have pauper father, pauper wife, pauper 
son, and pauper grand-children frequently applying on the 
same relief-day. . . . Indeed, the malady of pauperism has 
not only got amongst respectable mechanics, but we find even 
persons who may be considered of the middle classes, such as 
petty masters, small master bricklayers. 1 

The bulky volumes of the Report of the Commission, of 
which Nassau Senior was a member, proved quite conclu- 
sively that the very foundation of English economic life 
was in jeopardy. Since every employer could choose be- 
tween a workman solely dependent on his wages and a 
pauper, whose earnings were supplemented by the parish 
rates, it was but natural that only the latter should get em- 
ployment, thus dragging down wages and increasing the 

1 Reports from Commissioners, 1834, vol. xxvii, p. 26. 



42 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [42 

army of professional paupers. " The surplus labourer is 
driven by the overseer into the market to compete with the 
regular workman," — writes an investigator, — "his work is 
offered at a reduced price, or he is even billeted, and his 
pay entirely derived from the rates. With this cheap 
laborer the regular one can stand no chance ; he is undersold 
in his own market, and his only property, the work of his 
hands and the sweat of his brows, is wrested from him". 1 
Furthermore, the Report of the Poor Law Commissioners 
shows that a more or less self-respecting and industrious 
laborer, who had managed to lay by a part of his wages 
for a rainy day, was refused work, " till his savings were 
gone ; and the knowledge that this would be the case, acted 
as a preventive against savings ". Pauperism which reached 
a menacing point in 1832, when one person out of every 
seven was receiving relief, put the very life of the nation 
at stake, and became most destructive of the family and of 
society. 2 The repeal of the old laws was urgent also be- 
cause the growth of industry and the development of the 
factory system needed complete mobility of labor, which 
the law of settlement made impossible. 3 Something had 
to be done, some remedy had to be found, and the reforms 
of 1834 were proclaimed the panacea for the social evil. 
The chief ingredient of the remedy has since become known 
as the workhouse test. All relief, either in money or in 
provisions to able-bodied persons, was declared illegal ex- 
cept when rendered in public and well-regulated work- 
houses, or, as the poor classes called them, " Poor Law Bas- 
tiles ". 

1 William Day, An Inquiry into the Poor Laws and Surplus Labor, 
and their Mutual Reaction, London, 1832, p. 16. 

2 See Report from Commissioners, 1834, vol. xxvii, pp. 45 and 54. 

3 See in this connection the Extracts from Information received by 
Her Majesty's Commissioners, as to the Administration and Operation 
of the Poor Laws, London, 1833, pp. 271-272. 



4 3] THE WHIG RULE 43 

The sudden change caused by the New Poor Law, which 
was strenuously opposed, among other representatives, by 
the friend of the poor, William Cobbett, and by the then 
young and uninfluential politician Disraeli, naturally intensi- 
fied the hatred of the poor toward the property-owners and 
still more opened the eyes of the working classes to the 
fathomless gulf between themselves and the Liberals, into 
whose hands they had unsuspectingly put the reins of au- 
thority. When the bill was still pending, the uncompromis- 
ing Cobbett emphatically declared that the object of the 
bill was " to rob the poor man to enrich the landowner ", 1 
and this opinion became current all over the vast stretches 
of the misery-infested land. The glove which was cast to 
the non-possessing classes, challenging them indiscrimi- 
nately either to become prisoners or to starve, was picked 
up with threatening air, first, in the House of Commons, by 
a few friends of the people, and then by the people them- 
selves. Representative Leech warned the House that the 
new law would inevitably render the breach between the 
rich and the poor wider than it had hitherto ever been, 2 
while representative Hodges prophesied trouble with the 
unemployed laborers. " To be sure, the discontented might 
be put down if they were in the wrong", he said; "but 
when they had justice on their side, and were goaded on by 
their grievances, the recollection of any collision between 
them and the police or soldiery to put them down would be 
never effaced from their minds ". a Still more threatening 
was the speech of Thomas Attwood in the House of Com- 
mons on the nth of August, 1834: 

The people had a right to claim relief if they did not obtain 

1 Hansard's Parliamentary Debates, vol. xxiv, 1834, p. 1051. 

2 Ibid., pp. 1059-1060. 
s Ibid., p. 1030. 



44 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [44 

employment, — as good a right as the noble Lord had to the 
hat on his head. If the people were prevented from living 
honestly, they would be justified in living dishonestly. . . . For 
the law said, and it was a principle of our Constitution, that 
obedience was to be contingent upon protection, and that where 
no protection was given no obedience could be exacted. 1 

The indignation with the New Poor Law grew apace be- 
cause of the stringency of administration which provoked 
Mr. Harvey, representative for Southwark, to stigmatize 
the new law as " one of the most cruel, heartless, and sel- 
fish bills that ever was passed into a law ", and to declare 
that the funds " were administered with, the most barbarous 
and heartless severity ". Another representative called it 
the New Poor Law Murder Bill. Daniel O'Connell, the 
famous Irish patriot, was so much impressed by the ac- 
counts of the sufferings endured by the poor through the 
New Poor Law that he concluded that the alleged remedy 
was worse than the disease, and vigorously, though vainly, 
fought its introduction in Ireland. 

An amendment of the old Poor Laws was inevitable, 
but the precipitate break with the established system 
could not but entail disastrous results. The Poor Law 
Commissioners, then known under the nicknames of 
" bashaws of Somerset House " and " concentrated icicles ", 
were apparently so dejected by the evils of an institu- 
tion which threatened degeneracy to the whole nation, 
that they could not avoid the unhappy but common 
mistake of substituting one extreme for another. Repre- 
sentative Robinson was perfectly right, when he attacked 
the third reading of the bill on the ground that the " odious 
and cruel measure " contained no single feature which held 
out the least prospect or hope to the poor, no single provi- 

1 Hansard's Parliamentary Debates, vol. xxv, p. 1224. 



45] THE WHIG RULE 45 

sion which would give additional employment to the des- 
titute, and that it treated all able-bodied laborers alike. The 
poor man, he argued, would be told, " you must either go 
into the workhouse or we cannot give you relief ", and the 
effect of such a system, which made no distinction whatever 
between honesty and immorality, between the imbecile and 
the able-bodied, would be perilous. 1 These voices of warn- 
ing, however, fell on deaf ears. The bill was passed under 
protest, 2 and hardly had the people time to realize what had 
taken place in the Houses, when the local " Dogberries " 
began to treat them with barbarous cruelty. The discipline 
which was at once introduced in the workhouses fell like a 
thunderbolt on many a wretched family. Aged men found 
themselves separated from their wives and imprisoned in 
the workhouse, where the inmate was never allowed to 
forget that he was under strict orders, and where he was 
compelled to live on a diet frequently insufficient for the 

1 Hansard's Parliamentary Debates, vol. xxiv, 1834, p. 1042. 

* The protest which was entered by some members of the House of 
Lords against the passing of the Poor Laws' Amendment Bill con- 
tained, among others, the following reasons : 

" 1. Because this Bill is unjust and cruel to the poor. It imprisons 
in workhouses, for not working, those who cannot, by the hardest 
labor, obtain wages sufficient to provide necessaries for their wives 
and children, although the want of employment and the low rate of 
wages have been occasioned by the impolicy and negligence of the 
Government. . . . 

"4. Because we think the system suggested in the Bill, of consoli- 
dating immensely extensive unions of parishes, and establishing work- 
houses necessarily at great distances from many parishes, and thereby 
dividing families and removing children from their parents, merely be- 
cause they are poor, will be found justly abhorrent to the best feelings 
of the general population of the country; and especially inasmuch as it 
introduces the children of the agricultural poor to town poorhouses, 
it will conduce greatly to the contamination of their moral principles, 
and be calculated to prevent their obtaining in youth those habits of 
industry most likely to be beneficial to them in after-life." 

See ibid., vol. xxv, 1834, pp. 1098-9. 



4 6 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [46 

bare sustenance of life. Mothers were dragged away, like 
criminals, from their infants; sick men and women were 
made to walk long distances for relief, some of them expir- 
ing on the way. Tears and starvation became the poor 
man's lot. 1 The unfortunate inmates of the poorhouses 
were even denied the consolation of religion, being deprived 
of the liberty of attending houses of worship. 

Such were the reforms introduced during the Whig rule. 

1 The literature of the day became permeated with expressions of 
indignation, of which the following lines by Maurice Harcourt, written 
in 1837, m ay serve as an example : 

" Tears ! Tears are the portion of the Poor, 
For the great ones fain would see how much they can endure; 
And to prove their pity never fails, 
They have built the wretched union gaols, 
Where King Starvation reigns supreme, 
And plenty is a pauper's dream ! 
And 'mid this mockery of life 
Lingers the pale yet lovely wife, 
Torn from her first and dearest tye, 
. In this abode of gloom to die." * 



CHAPTER III 

Oh ! glorious was that mortal's skill, 
Who first devised the Poor Law Bill, 
To teach in this enlightened time, 
That poverty's the vilest crime, 

— Maurice Harcourt. 

The New Poor Law 

The philosophy of the New Poor Law, borrowed from 
James Mill, was based on the Malthusian economic doctrine. 
To aid the people who did not reserve seats at nature's feast 
meant to injure others who had better claims. The com- 
missioners who were entrusted with the enforcement of the 
New Poor Law thoroughly understood their mission which 
was once stated by Dr. Kay at a public meeting. He said 
bluntly : " Our intention is to make the workhouses as like 
prisons as possible, and to make them as uncomfortable as 
possible." x These intentions were, indeed, carried into ef- 
fect with a faithfulness worthy of a better object. The im- 
pression made by the description of the poorhouses is ap- 
palling, and even Mr. T. W. Fowle, the ardent advocate of 
the New Poor Law, vainly tries to conceal his confusion 
in an array of words, and the following lines sound like 
mockery : " Wise men will note with satisfaction that the 
use of the rod is not forbidden in the case of naughty boys. 
. . . The privilege of flogging enjoyed by children of the 
upper classes is denied to paupers above the age of four- 
teen." 2 The description given by Mr. Fowle of the effect 

1 Hansard, vol. xli, p. 1014. 

2 T. W. Fowle, The Poor Law, London, 1881, p. 139. 

47] 47 



4 8 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [ 4 g 

of promiscuous aggregation on the poorhouse inmates and 
especially on the children, restrained as it is, presents a 
lurid picture of mental and moral contamination. 1 The 
criminal negligence of children, who were maintained in the 
workhouses, on the part of the officers was exposed by a 
surgeon in his letter to Lord John Russell. 2 Emaciation was 
evident in almost all the eighty children within the walls 
of the workhouse of St. James : 

The picture is almost too horrible to describe. I found the 
children with large heads, tumefied bodies, shrivelled and 
wasted limbs mostly in a sitting posture, with their legs crossed 
— and I found upon enquiring of the nurse . . . that any 
change from this position occasioned them pain, and caused 
them to cry. ... They have, in short, become rickety from 
the want of exercise and, I fear, an insufficient supply of 
wholesome nourishment. . . . Languid and feeble circulation, 
and other marks of general debility, are strikingly apparent. 
. . . The sight was truly appalling. ... It is quite clear that 
such an uniform character of disease among so many children, 
the offspring of different parents, must be the result of the 
particular manner in which these children have been nursed 
and maintained. . . . They are unfortunately too young to 
tell their own tale; but although their intellects are not suffi- 
ciently matured to give this information, their appearance and 
condition bespeak it but too powerfully. I do not hesitate to 
declare my firm belief that their wretched condition is the 
result of either an insufficient supply of food, or a supply of 
improper food, and a want of exercise. . . . Either of these 

1 Fowle, op. cit., pp. 142-144. See also on this point Sidney and Bea- 
trice Webb, The Break-Up of the Poor Law: Being Part One of the 
Minority Report of the Poor Law Commission, London, 1909, chap. 1. 

2 On the punishment and treatment of children by the workhouse 
authorities, see also speech of representative Ferrand in Hansard, op. 
cit., third series, vol. lxvi, pp. 1226-1228. 



49] THE NEW POOR LAW 49 

causes, or the combination of them, is adequate to the pro- 
duction of the effects it has been my unhappiness to witness. 1 

The cruelties perpetrated in various workhouses were di- 
vulged by non-partisan men, such as the Rev. William Carus 
Wilson, who submitted to the legislature his report on the 
" wanton cruelty of the officers of the New Poor Laws." 2 
These official statements and the accounts given by the 
London Times and many local opposition newspapers of the 
crimes committed by workhouse officials, together with the 
imaginative pathetic pictures of Oliver Twist and other 
workhouse heroes of fiction, did not fail to provoke uni- 
versal detestation of the new system of poor relief. The 
indigent actually shrank with fear at the thought of the 
workhouse, and in many cases preferred to starve rather 
than enter the " Bastiles." The net result was that 

as a matter of fact (the large towns excepted) they (the work- 
houses) do not contain in many cases half, in some not a 
quarter of the inmates for which they were built, so that the 
waste in keeping up large unfilled establishments, each with 
an expensive staff of officers, is very great, indeed; thus the 
salaries and rations of officers (including, however, that pro- 
portion which is spent in the administration of out-relief) is 
considerable over a million, while the total maintenance of in- 
door paupers is only about a million and three-quarters. 3 

The defenders of the New Poor Law did anything but en- 
lighten the non-possessing classes on the real significance 
and desirability of the new measure. In his long and ela- 

1 T. J. Pettigrew, A Letter to the Right Hon. Lord John Russell, on 
the Condition of the Pauper Children of St. James, Westminster, Lon- 
don, 1836, pp. 11-12. 

2 William Carus Wilson, Remarks on Certain Operations of the New 
Poor Laws, Kirkby Lonsdale, 1838. 

* Fowle, op. cit., p. 141. 



5 o THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [50 

borate speech which he delivered in the House of Lords on 
July 21, 1834, the Chancellor Lord Brougham, the father 
of the Bill, extolled the wisdom of Malthus and declared 
with brutal frankness that the New Poor Law was intended 
as a preventive check on the unlimited increase of popula- 
tion. 1 This declaration, coupled with his express hatred 
of charitable institutions and his cynical denunciation of 
hospitals for old age, called forth a storm of indignation. 
As ever, the undaunted Cobbett came out with a character- 
istic reply : " The great object of the Bill," said he, 

was to teach the poor to live as man and wife, without having 
any children. This was a base and filthy philosophy, and yet 
a book had been published showing the means of carrying the 
principles of Malthus into effect. Every farmer knew that 
the effect of the Bill was to take away the poor rates from 
the poor, and to put them into the pockets of the landlords. 2 

Cobbett' s erroneous view that the Poor Law was enacted 
for the benefit of the landlords was shared by many of his 
radical colleagues. Their hatred of the landed aristocracy 
rendered them utterly incapable of realizing the importance 
and the advance of the new capitalist class. It was Bron- 
terre, subsequently the " school-master " of Chartism, who 
attacked the new law as an instrument of exploitation by the 
manufacturers. In the first number of his National Re- 
former, dated January 7, 1837, he writes : 

Our work-people, both agricultural and manufacturing, are 
already ground down as low as commercial avarice can grind 
them, without exterminating them altogether; yet the money- 
monster is not half satisfied. As a last resource, this monster 
has now passed a New Poor Law Act, to make the laborers 

1 Hansard, op. cit., vol. xxv, 1834, pp. 211-251. 

2 Ibid., p. 1216. 



51 ] THE NEW POOR LAW g X 

live on coarser food, or on no food at all — an Act which treats 
the victims it has impoverished as other states treat convicted 
felons — an act which gives a felon's garb, a felon's fare, and 
a felon's gaol to the broken-down man whose toil has en- 
riched the monster, and whose only crime is that he did not 
strangle the monster a century ago. . . . Yes, my friends, the 
New Poor Law Act is the last rotten blood-stained prop by 
which the money-monster hopes to sustain the tottering fabric 
of his cannibal system — of that merciless system, which first 
makes you poor in the midst of wealth of your own producing, 
and would then bastile and starve you for the fruits of its 
own barbarity. 

This view was subsequently elaborated by most of the 
Chartist writers. Feargus O'Connor, the foremost Chartist 
leader, attacked the new law on the ground that it was both 
a result and a cause of the excessive use of machinery : 

This act was framed by Lord Brougham, as the champion of 
the middle classes, who were most strongly represented by the 
steam producers, and it was framed purposely with a view to 
seduce those into a delusive market who would have risen in 
their might and annihilated any government that dared thus 
violate their trust by the commission of wholesale plunder, had 
it not been for the safe retreat promised to the abandoned in 
the artificial market. It is the nature of man to use all means 
to better his situation, and the poor countryman who gave up 
his house and home under the compulsion of the Poor Law 
Amendment Act, in the hope of going to a permanent situation, 
was unconscious in the " hey-day " of manual labor, as then 
applied to infant machinery, that each improvement in the one 
would be a nail in the coffin of the other. Estates were cleared 
of willing immigrants seduced by the spirit of the moment, 
and when anticipation had failed, they then framed the strin- 
gent rules under which the hellish law had placed them, when 
they sought for an asylum in the parish of their fathers. Had 
it not been for machinery, the Poor Law Amendment Act 



52 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [52 

never would have passed — nay, never would have been ventured 
upon, because the whole force of popular indignation would 
have been directed against the general plunder, while opposition 
was much mitigated in consequence of the casual provision 
which machinery offered as a substitute; thus has the Poor 
Law Amendment Act been another direct effect upon ma- 
chinery. 1 

From the point of view of social causation, it is, indeed, 
utterly irrelevant whether or not the advocacy of the New 
Poor Law was prompted by personal or by class interests. 
It must be conceded that, whatever the motives might have 
been, the object of checking poverty and moral degradation 
was commendable. The fundamental propositions of Lord 
Brougham were mere truisms, " that men should be paid 
according to the work they do " ; that men should be em- 
ployed and paid " according to the demand for their labor 
and its value to the employer," and that " they who toil 
should not live worse than those who are idle." 2 However, 
when one puts himself in the position of the poor contem- 
poraries of the Lord Chancellor who, directly or indirectly, 
were concerned in, and affected by, the new law, he must as- 
sume a different attitude. Blinded by his extreme hatred of 
charity, — even assuming that this hatred was nurtured not 
by a bad heart, but by sentiments of a public-spirited man ' 
— the noble Lord displayed his feeling in a way which the 
common people could not help but abhor. It must have 
been brazen-headedness, if not hard-heartedness, to come be- 
fore one army of destitute men and women who were dis- 

1 English Chartist Circular, no. 64. 

2 Hansard, op. cit., vol. xxv, 1834, p. 218. 

8 The Lord Chancellor was apparently afraid of passing into history 
with the reputation of a hard-hearted and short-sighted man, and 
grasped the opportunity at the next discussion to correct this impres- 
sion. See Hansard, vol. xxv, p. 436. 



53] THE NEW POOR LAW 53 

placed, like so many useless tools, by the new machinery, 
and before another still greater army of men who were 
compelled by the order of the land to shun decency and 
regard thrift and savings as a thing for which they would 
be punished by the parish with unemployment, — it must 
have been fanatical blindness to come before the nation 
with an argument like the following: 

Sickness is a thing which a provident man should look forward 
to, and provide against, as part of the ordinary ills of life. 
. . . But when I come to hospitals for old age — as old age is 
before all men — as every man is every day approaching nearer 
to that goal — all prudent men of independent spirit will, in the 
vigour of their days, lay by sufficient to maintain them, when 
age shall end their labor. Hospitals, therefore, for the support 
of old men and old women, may, strictly speaking, be regarded 
as injurious in their effects upon the community. 1 

This speech brought forth an outburst of disgust and anta- 
gonism, and was made most use of by the Tories as well 
as the Radicals. 

The sponsors of the New Poor Law, however, treated 
with cruel disregard all the protests and warnings of their 
fellow members of Parliament and other antagonists. Far 
from heeding the petitions of the people, they rejoiced at the 
result achieved immediately after the enforcement of the 
new provisions. The idea of the f ramers of the bill, which, 
to use Cobbett's words, was meant " as a stepping stone to a 
total abolition of all relief for the poor", 2 seemed to approach 
realization, inasmuch as both the number of applicants for 
relief and the amount of relief itself were at once con- 
siderably reduced. It is true that the relief officers had to 
quell many a riot in the new unions ; but this little dampened 

1 Hansard, op. cit., vol. xxv, 1834, pp. 221-222. 
a Ibid., vol. xxv, 1834, p. 1216. 



54 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [54 

the hopes of the commissioners, since the suppression was 
not a difficult task. 1 The stepping-stone proved to be of 
great avail, as the reduction of the poor rates in thirteen of 
the largest parishes reached twenty per cent the first year. 2 
The expenditures for poor relief were fast sliding down- 
ward, as may be seen from the following table : 3 

Relief of the Poor 

Year. Pounds. 

1832 7,036,968 

1833 6,790,799 

1834 6,317,255 

1835 5,526,416 

1836 4,717,629 

1837 4,044,741 

The commissioners, of course, could not deny that the 
progress of the change had been highly favored by the 
prosperous state of the manufacturing districts and especi- 
ally by the cheapness of provisions which marked the first 
half of the decade. 4 Yet they had great faith in a 
system which was shunned by the people from the very 
start. In the Faringdon Union alone, for example, work- 
house relief was offered to 240 able-bodied laborers, of 
whom not more than twenty entered the house, and not more 
than one-half of the latter remained there longer than a 
few days. 5 

These were good signs for the friends of the New Poor 
Law, and, to use Carlyle's sarcastic comments on the Re- 
ports of the Poor Law Commissioners, " a pleasure to the 
friend of humanity ". 

1 See First Annual Report of the Poor Law Commissioners for Eng- 
land and Wales, 1835, pp. 35-36. 

2 Ibid., p. 26. 

s See Third Annual Report of the Poor Law Commissioners, etc., 1837. 
* See Second Report of the Poor Law Commissioners, etc., 1836, p. 33. 
5 See First Annual Report of the Poor Law Commissioners, etc., p. 27. 



55] THE NEW POOR LAW 55 

One sole recipe seems to have been needful for the woes of 
England: "refusal of out-door relief". England lay in sick 
discontent, writhing powerless on its fever-bed, dark, nigh des- 
perate, in wastefulness, want, improvidence and eating care, till 
like Hyperion down the eastern steeps, the Poor Law Com- 
missioners arose, and said, Let there be workhouses, and bread 
of affliction and water of affliction there ! It was a simple in- 
vention ; as all truly great inventions are. And see, in any 
quarter, instantly as the walls of the workhouse arise, misery 
and necessity fly away, out of sight, — out of being, as is fondly 
hoped — and dissolve into the inane ; industry, frugality, fertil- 
ity, rise of wages ; peace on earth and good will towards men 
do, — in the Poor Law Commissioners' Reports, — infallibly, 
rapidly or not so rapidly, to the joy of all parties, supervene. 1 

The effects of the new measure were more or less dis- 
guised by the general condition of prosperity. Before long, 
however, they emerged to the surface. The crisis of 1836 
and the series of bad harvests that followed it ushered in a 
period of the most abject misery. The notorious Irish 
famine and the distress in the highlands (Scotland) could 
not but augment the universal penury. After the crop of 1836 
had been entirely cut off, the inhabitants of the highlands 
and the islands were left without potatoes, their staple article 
of food, almost at the beginning of winter. The grain crops 
could not ripen because of the general wetness of the soil, 
while those which partially did ripen were destroyed by the 
severe autumn gales and were rendered entirely useless even 
for the cattle. It was reported, with the fear of being rather 
" under the mark than of overshooting it ", that two-thirds 
of the population " are now, or will be long before the com- 
mencement of the next crop, without a supply of either kind 
of food at home, and will have to look to foreign sources to 

Thomas Carlyle, Chartism, London, 1840, p. 16. 



56 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [56 

prevent starvation." * The official report of the Agent- 
General for Emigration, dated July 29, 1837, stated expli- 
citly that, owing to the decline of the fisheries and the break- 
ing up of the kelp trade, by which the bulk of the population 
lived, the majority of the people had become "a clear super- 
fluity in the country." 2 

This superfluity of human beings had to emigrate from 
their native places in order to avoid starvation. Ireland, in 
the judgment of the commissioners of 1836, was one great 
lazarhouse, and the Irish poor crossed over in crowds to 
England, congested every large town, or rambled over the 
country, offering their services on any terms which might 
induce manufacturer or farmer to employ them. Emigra- 
tion also became a prominent feature among the English 
peasantry. Man hunted for a refuge from the lurking 
enemy — hunger. Goaded on by the illusion that clings to dis- 
tant places, people abandoned their hovels and turned 
nomads. The characteristic attributed by Adam Smith to 
man as being "of all sorts of luggage the most difficult to be 
transported," which was strikingly true even as late as 1837, 
changed, as if by magic, under the severe economic pres- 
sure of the subsequent year. In his report to the Secretary 
of State for the Colonies, the Agent-General for Emigra- 
tion from the United Kingdom relates that Dr. Galloway 
had to travel over a considerable part of Wiltshire, Dorset- 
shire, Hampshire, and the eastern part of Sussex, in order 
to secure a sufficient number of passengers for a small public 

1 Distress in the Highlands (iScotland). A letter addressed to Mr. 
Fox Maule by Mr. Robert Graham, and communicated by Lord John 
Russell's direction to the Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury. 
London, 1837; pp. 1-2. 

2 Report of the Agent-General for Emigration on Applicability of 
Emigration to Relieve Distress in the Highlands, dated July 29, 1837, 
London, 1841, p. 1. 



57] THE NEW POOR LAW 57 

vessel which sailed in June, 1837. In the autumn of the 
same year a vessel was allotted to the county of Norfolk, 
but the whole party, with the exception of only three fami- 
lies, changed their minds at the last moment. Circum- 
stances were much changed in 1838. The government 
agents found no difficulty whatsoever in filling four ships 
from the county of Kent alone, and many applicants had 
to be rejected for want of room. 1 Emigration filled all 
channels and especially those leading to the industrial cen- 
tres, which before long inevitably became infested with the 
most noisome quarters. 

In the very center of Glasgow, — writes the superintendent of 
the police of that city, — there is an accumulated mass of squalid 
wretchedness. . . . There is concentrated everything that is 
wretched, dissolute, loathsome and pestilential. These places 
are filled by a population of many thousands of miserable 
creatures. The houses in which they live are unfit even for 
sties . . . dunghills lie in the vicinity of the dwellings; and 
from the extremely defective sewerages, filth of every kind 
constantly accumulates. 2 

In 1837 one-tenth of the Manchester and one-seventh of 
the Liverpool population lived in cellars, and most of them 
in courts with only one outlet. 3 In Bury, the population 
of which was 20,000, the dwellings of 3,000 families of 
workingmen were visited. In yy^ of these dwellings the 
families slept three and four in one bed; in sixty-seven, 
five and six slept in one bed, and in fifteen one bed ac- 
commodated six and seven persons. 4 In Bolton there 

1 Report to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, from the Agent- 
General for Emigration from the United Kingdom, 1838, p. 6. 

2 Hansard, op. cit., 1843, vol. lxvii, p. 69. 

3 Ibid., 1838, vol. xxxix, p. 383. 
* Ibid., 1840, vol. li, p. 1226. 



5 g THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [58 

were, in 1840, 1,126 houses untenanted. In one case, 
seventeen persons were found in a dwelling about five 
yards square. In another, eight persons, two pairs 
of looms and two beds were found in a cellar, four 
by five yards, and six feet under the ground. 1 In 
Rochdale, five-sixths of the population had scarcely a blan- 
ket among them. 2 The chief commissioner of the police 
force in Manchester stated that in one room, totally desti- 
tute of furniture, three men and two women were found 
lying on the floor, without straw, and with bricks for their 
pillows. The stipendiary magistrate of the Thames Police 
Office reported similar observations. The descriptions of 
dwelling houses " with broken panes in every window- 
frame, and filth and vermin in every nook, with walls black 
with the smoke of foul chimneys, with corded bed-stocks for 
beds, without water," 3 appears less shocking in comparison 
with the statements made by other witnesses. The dwellings 
in the rural districts were even worse than those in the cities. 
In one place a father, mother, married daughter with her 
husband, a blind boy of sixteen, a baby, and two girls, all 
occupied one room. 4 In another place a man of about 
sixty years of age was found living in a cow stable, without 
windows, floor, or ceiling, where the rain dripped through 
the rotten roof, and dung-heaps lay near his door. 

1 Hansard, op. cit., vol. lviii, pp. 31-32. 
3 Ibid., vol. lix, p. 635. 

3 Report on the Sanitary Condition of the Laboring Population of 
Great Britain, London, 1842, pp. 133-135. 

4 Hansard, vol. lxxiii, pp. 882-884. 



CHAPTER IV 

Child, is thy father dead? — 

Father is gone: 
Why did they tax his bread? — 

God's will be done. — 
Mother has sold her bed, 

Better to die than wed; 
Where shall she lay her head? — 

Home she has none. 

— Ebeneser Elliott. 

The Universal Distress 

The appalling living conditions of the poor was the im- 
mediate result of the general unemployment that prevailed 
in all parts of the country. The hand-loom weavers were 
the first victims of the depression of trade. As early as 
April 23, 1837, the Manchester Times recorded that " the 
distress has now reached the working classes. In this town 
and its neighborhood, many of the factories are working 
only four days a week, and some thousands of hand-loom 
weavers have been discharged ". The investigation made 
by the government showed that during the winter of 1837- 
1838 an almost unprecedented number of looms had been 
thrown into disuse not only in Manchester, but also in 
Spitalfields and other manufacturing centers. 1 Another 
commissioner reported that the applicants for relief were 
mostly able-bodied men with families, and widows with 
children, all of whom were driven to seek parish assistance 

1 Report by Mr. Hickson on the Condition of the Hand-Loom Weav- 
ers, Presented to Parliament by Her Majesty's Command, 1840, p. 4, 
59] 59 



60 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [60 

through lack of employment. 1 Dr. Kay's Report of 1837 
on the distress of the Spitalfields weavers stated that 
out of the 14,000 looms, one-third were not used, while 
the remaining number were only partially employed. 
The manufacturers themselves estimated that the decrease 
in the work executed amounted to< one-half the quantity 
ordinarily produced, and that the aggregate weekly wages 
of the weavers shrank from £10,000 or £12,000 to £5,000 or 
£6,000. The effect of this stagnation of trade can be real- 
ized when we bear in mind that even at their best, i. e- when 
employment was constant and regular, the weavers were, 
according to the report, so destitute of resources that the 
employers had to advance them money from week to week 
to defray the current expenses of their families. 2 The 
wages of the luckier weavers who retained their places were 
reduced from twenty-five to thirty per cent. The annual 
loss to the poor in nominal wages in Bolton alone was esti- 
mated in 1841 at £i30,ooo. 3 The unoccupied houses in 
Preston numbered 1220, while in Oldham, out of the 7853 
houses and shops, 1200 were empty as a result of total or 
partial unemployment. 4 

The industrial depression spread like a plague from town 
to town and from industry to industry, tightening its grip 
on England for more than half a decade. In Birmingham 
the labor aristocracy, the iron workers began to feel the 

1 Report by Edward Gulson, respecting Nottingham, to Poor Law 
Commissioners, 1837, p. 7. 

* James Ph. Kay, Report, Relative to the Distress Prevalent among 
the Spitalfields Weavers, to the Poor Law Commissioners, London, 
J 837, pp. 1-2. On the want of employment of the hand-loom weavers in 
Scotland, see Assistant Hand-loom Weavers' Commissioners' Report 
of 1839, PP- 8-9. 

3 Hansard, op. cit., vol. lviii, p. 31. 

4 Ibid., pp. 593-594- 



6i] THE UNIVERSAL DISTRESS 6l 

pinch of bad times in the early part of 1837. In March 
of that year a deputation submitted to Lord Melbourne a 
memorial, signed by " merchants, manufacturers and other 
inhabitants " of Birmingham, in which " the serious and 
immediate attention of His Majesty's Government " was 
solicited to the " general state of difficulty and embarrass- 
ment, threatening the most alarming consequences to all 
classes of the community ". The government was advised 
that " unless remedial measures be immediately applied, a 
large proportion of our population will shortly be thrown 
out of employment ". x The laissez-faire policy, however, 
was not abandoned, and no serious attempt was made to 
save the situation, with the result that by the end of 1842 
there was hardly a single industry which was not in a 
critical state. 2 Archibald Prentice testifies that in 1841 
there were 20,936 persons in Leeds, " whose average earn- 
ings were only elevenpence three-farthings a week. In 
Paisley, nearly one-fourth of the population was in a state 
bordering upon actual starvation. In one district, in Man- 
chester, the Rev. Mr. Beardsall visited 258 families, con- 
sisting of 1029 individuals, whose average earnings were 
only sevenpence halfpenny per head per week." 3 

The agricultural districts could by no means boast of 
better conditions. The investigation of the state of three 
typical families of husbandmen in the union of Ampthill 
revealed that the means of living had been reduced, in 
money, from is. 8d. a head per week in 1834 to is. 2^d. in 
1837, notwithstanding the fact that the work of these hus- 
bandmen had been increased from an aggregate of 39 weeks 

1 Bronterre's National Reformer, March 18, 1837. 

2 See Hansard, op. cit., vol. lix, p. 636, and vol. lxiii, p. 1128. 

3 Archibald Prentice, History of the Anti-Corn Law League, London, 
1853, vol. i, p. 270. 



62 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [62 

in 1834 to 142 in 1837. Moreover, this does not tell the 
whole story. The command that money had over bread in 
these two years must be taken into consideration. The 
average price of wheat in 1834 was 46s. 2d. per quarter, 
while in 1837 it reached 55s. o,d. The purchasing power 
of the earnings of the three families (which in 1834 and 
1837 numbered 17 and 21 souls respectively) was 32 quar- 
ters of wheat, or 18^ pints per week for each person in 
1834; whereas in 1837 their income could purchase only 
23^ quarters of wheat, i. e., 11 pints per week for each per- 
son. In other words, the actual wages fell 41 per cent in 
comparison with the wages in 1834 which even then were 
far from adequate for a decent livelihood. 1 The investi- 
gation of the state of forty-eight families of husband- 
men of the Ampthill union whose employment had been 
irregular, showed, that, notwithstanding the 760 weeks 
more work done in 1837 than in 1834, they suffered 
a reduction in their weekly money income per head 
of from is. icv^d. during 1834 to is. 6d. in 1837, 
or 20 per cent in nominal wages, and in the purchasing 
power of the latter expressed in wheat, a weekly reduction 
from 20^4 pints per head in 1834 to 13% pints per 
head in 1837, or a net reduction of 34 per cent. 2 The sur- 
vey of thirty families of the same union, whose employment 
in husbandry had been regular during the years 1834- 1837, 
revealed a similar result. The average weekly reduction in 
their actual wages, expressed in terms of wheat, fell from 
23 1- 10 pints to 17 3-10 pints per head, while the reduc- 
tion of the income of ten of these families reached 32 per 

1 See Twenty-third Report from the Select Committee on the Poor 
Law Amendment Act, London, 1838, appendix B, pp. 34-35- 

"See Twenty-sixth and Twenty-seventh Reports from the Select 
Committee on the Poor Law Amendment Act, London, 1838, appendix 
A, pp. 44-45. 



63] THE UNIVERSAL DISTRESS 63 

cent, and one family numbering seven persons had to subsist 
on only 1 %d., i. e., 1 3-10 pints of wheat per day. 1 

The Whigs came into power pledged to reforms which 
they could hardly accomplish. The campaign for the Re- 
form Bill of 1832 carried with it a promise for the repeal 
of the Corn Laws which had been condemned as fostering 
the monopoly of landowners. On his death-bed, Jeremy 
Bentham rejoiced that the Reform Bill would assure the 
triumph of free-trade. In spite of their pledges, however, 
and in spite of the many petitions in favor of the repeal 
of the Corn Laws, the reform Parliament and the reform 
ministers put up the " not-the-time " plea and energetically 
fought such repeal. Instead of ameliorating the condition 
of the poor, the government continued its laissez-faire 
policy, and allowed the misery of the working class to be 
exceedingly aggravated by the relentless rise of prices of 
wheat. 

Table I 
Year. Price of Wheat per Quarter. 

1836 39s. $d. 

1837 52s. 6d. 

1838 55-y- 3d. 

1839 69s. 4d. 

1840 68s. 6d. 

The value of the imported wheat in 1836 was o. 1 per cent 
of the whole import of Great Britain, whereas in 1839 wheat 
was twenty per cent of the entire value of imports, reaching 

1 Twenty-sixth and Twenty-seventh Reports, op. cit., appendix B, pp. 
46-47. Concerning the condition of six laborers in other parishes of 
the same union, see Twenty-eighth Report from the Select Committee 
on the Poor Law Amendment Act, London, 1838, appendix, pp. 24-25. 
The subsequent Reports of the Committee endeavored to weaken the 
impression produced by the former Reports, and sophisticated methods 
were employed to discredit not only the conclusions but even the 
veracity of Mr. Turner, a former member of the Committee. 



64 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [64 

a sum never exceeded before (£10.5 million). This rise in 
the price of wheat taxed the working population of Bolton, 
for instance, as much as £195,000, which together with the 
reduction in wages amounted to a net loss of £325,000/ It 
goes without saying that this sudden rise in the price of 
wheat, due primarily to the high import duties, at the time 
of a well-nigh universal state of unemployment, robbed 
many families of the bare necessities of life. In one case a 
man was seen standing over a swill tub, into which was 
thrown the wash for the pigs, and taking several pieces 
out and eating them with a voracious appetite. 2 A farmer 
testified that about twenty females from Crompton and 
Shaw, near Oldham, begged him to allow them to disinter 
the body of a cow which had been buried a day and a half. 
Upon his permission the women " disinterred the body, cut 
it into pieces, took it to their respective families, who not 
only ate heartily of the carrion, but declared the meat to be 
the best they had tasted for many months past ". 3 

In Johnstone mothers were witnessed who divided a 
farthing salt herring and a half -penny worth of potatoes 
among a family of seven; others mixed sawdust with oat- 
meal in making their porridge, to enable each to have a 
mouthful, while still other families lived for ten days on 
beans and peas and ears of wheat stolen from the neigh- 
boring fields. 4 Children wrangled with one another in the 
streets for the offal which well-to-do people did not allow 
their dogs to eat. Starving families seized the vilest sub- 
stances which could protract for a few hours their miserable 
existence. Half-dressed wretches crowded together to save 

1 Hansard, op. cit., vol. lviii, p. 31; vol. lxiii, p. 1125. 

2 Ibid n vol. lviii, p. 595. 

3 Ibid. See also affidavit to the same effect in vol. lxiii, p. 26. 
* Ibid., vol. lix, p. 759. 



65] THE UNIVERSAL DISTRESS 65 

themselves from the pain of cold. Several women were 
found in the middle of the day imprisoned in one bed under 
a blanket, because as many others who had on their backs 
all the articles of dress that belonged to the party were out 
of doors. 1 Colonel T. P. Thompson, describing in the Sun 
the distress he witnessed in Bolton in 1841, says: 

I think I know what is the minimum of help by which horse, 
ass, dog, hog or monkey can sustain existence, and where it 
must go out for want of appliance and means of living. But 
anything like the squalid misery, the slow, moulding, putrify- 
ing death by which the weak and the feeble of the working 
classes are perishing here, it never befel my eyes to behold, 
nor my imagination to conceive. 2 

Such conditions being the rule and not the exception, 
there is little wonder that various diseases took root in the 
poor quarters and became the scourge of all industrial 
cities. Consumption and febrile diseases of a malignant and 
fatal character, together with plagues, prevailed in almost 
every house, and raised the mortality of the population to a 
point threatening almost racial extermination. The Reports 
of the Sanitary Condition of the Laboring Population of 
England, as well as the Parliamentary Reports, contain an 
amazing mass of evidence to that effect. In Liverpool, for 
example, the average longevity of the gentry and profes- 
sionals in 1840 was 35 years; that of business men and 
skilled mechanics, 22 years, while that of day-laborers, oper- 
atives, etc., was only 15 years. The variation of mortality 
in different districts of the metropolis in 1838 amounted, 
according to the first annual report of the registrar-general, 
to 100 per cent. The report of one of the medical officers 

1 Report on Sanitary Condition of the Laboring Population of Great 
Britain, 1842, p. 24. 
8 Quoted by Archibald Prentice, op. cit., vol. i, p. 270. 



66 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [66 

stated explicitly that the dwelling condition in Liverpool 
was the source of many diseases, " particularly catarrh, 
rheumatic affections, and tedious cases of typhus mitior, 
which, owing to the overcrowded state of the apartment, 
occasionally pass into typhus gravior ". The cellars es- 
pecially became hot-beds of epidemic diseases. In 1837 
the same medical officer attended " a family of thirteen, 
twelve of whom had typhus fever, without a bed in the 
cellar, without straw or timber shavings — frequent substi- 
tutes. They lay on the floor, and so crowded, that I could 
scarcely pass between them ". In another house, fourteen 
patients were found lying on boards, and during their illness, 
had never removed their clothes. 1 Nassau W. Senior testi- 
fied that he had found in Manchester a whole street follow- 
ing the course of a ditch, because in this way deeper cellars 
could be had without the cost of digging, and that not a 
single house of that street had escaped the cholera. 2 The 
extent of the spread of diseases in industrial centers can 
be realized from the fact that the total number of patients 
admitted to the dispensaries in the Manchester district dur- 
ing the six years ending in 1836 was 54,000, whereas the 
total number of those admitted during the six years of dear 
food ending in 1841 reached 169,000, — an increase of over 
200 per cent. 3 

The opponents of the New Poor Law pointed out repeat- 
edly that the new measure would propagate crime. 
Cobbett was particularly emphatic on this point. Robbery, 
murder and violence would become a matter of dire neces- 

1 See Report on the Handloom Weavers, 1841, vol. x, p. 350; cf. also 
Report on the Sanitary Condition of the Laboring Population of Great 
Britain, 1842, pp. 17-25. 

1 Nassau W. Senior, Letters on the Factory Act to the Rt. Hon. the 
President of the Board of Trade, London, 1837, P- 2 4- 

3 Hansard, op. cit., vol. lxiii, p. 1124. 



6 7 ] 



THE UNIVERSAL DISTRESS 



6 7 



sity, prophesied he. 1 " What remains for the laborer but 
plunder?" — protested another. — "There is no law for a 
starving man — there is no tie of conscience or principle 
binding on a famished wretch who hears a wife and chil- 
dren clamorous for food." 2 The prophecies soon became 
facts. Offenses of the most heinous nature spread with 
epidemic rapidity over the whole country and especially in 
the manufacturing districts. The total expense for suppres- 
sion of crime in 1841 amounted to the enormous sum of 
£604,165, the expense for a single convict being equal to the 
cost of education of one hundred and seventeen children. 
The loss by plunder at Liverpool alone amounted in that 
year to £700,000. 3 The progress of crime can be seen 



from the following table 



Table II 



Year 


Populatien of 
England 
and Wales 


% of In- 
crease each 
year 


Number of 
commit- 
ments 


Proportion of 
commitments 
to population 


% of In- 
crease each 
years 


1836 

1837 

1838 

1839 

1841 


14,909,000 
15,105,000 
15,307,000 
15,511,000 
15,718,000 
15,927,000 
16,141,000 




j 20,984 
23,612 

1 23,094 

24,443 
27,187 
27,760 
3i>3°9 


I in 710 
I in 639 
1 in 662 
I in 634 
1 in 578 
I in 673 
1 in 516 




1-3 
i-3 
i-3 
1-3 
i-3 
1-3 


12.5 
— 2.1 

5-8 
1 1.2 

2.1 
12.8 


Total increase 


1,232,000 


8-3 


10,325 




49.2 


during period 





1 Hansard, vol. xxiv, p. 1052. 

2 George Stephen, Letter to the Rt. Hon. Lord John Russell on the 
Probable Increase of Rural Crime, London, 1836, p. 4. 

s Hansard, vol. lxvii, p. 66. 

4 See Official Report of 1846, no. 460, in vol. xxv. The increase of 
population as deduced from Census returns is even smaller. Thus, 
according to the Census reports, the total population in 1836 was 14,- 
758,000, and in 1842, 15,981,000 — an increase of 12,000 less than in our 
table. 



68 



THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT 



[6S 



Of the commitments of 1842 not less than 8,591, or 
nearly 28 per cent, were made in the two manufacturing 
districts of Lancashire and Middlesex, including London, 
although the population of those districts was far from 
constituting such a large percentage of the total. The offi- 
cial report of Lancashire showed that the increase of crime 
in that district was nearly six times as great as that of the 
population. 

The Poor Law Commissioners could boast of the effect 
of their measures which brought about an annual average 
saving of a couple of millions in the expenditures for poor 
relief. But England paid too high a price for these sterling 
pounds by forcing multitudes of people into the " bastiles ". 
The wretchedness of the situation can be gauged from the 
growing- number of workhouse inmates as shown in the fol- 
lowing table. Bearing in mind that nothing but actual star- 
vation could force the people to entetr the relief-prisons, such 
an increase tells a sorry tale. Within five years the work- 
house population of England and Wales almost doubled. 

Table 111 l 



Ye»r 


Persons in 

receipt of 

outdoor 

relief 


Cumulative 

Increase 

during the 

period 


Cumula- 
tive 
per cent 
of increase 


Persons 
in work- 
houses 


Cumulative 

Increase 

during the 

period 


Cumulative 

per cent of 

increase 


Difference 

in the per 

cent of 

increase 


1839.... 

1840 

1841.... 

1842 

1843.... 


997,000 
1,030,000 
1,108,000 
1,196,000 
1,300,000 






140,000 
169,000 
192,000 
223,000 
239,000 








33,000 
III,000 
199,000 
303,000 


3-3 

II.O 

20.0 
3°-3 


29,OCO 
52,000 
83,000 
99,000 


20.7 
37-° 

59-3 

70.7 


17.4 
26.O 

39-3 
40.4 



Table III shows clearly that while the stringent adminis- 
trators of the New Poor Law began to discern the hand- 

1 This table is constructed on the basis of data given in Hansard, 
op. cit., vol. lxv, p. 367, vol. lxvi, pp. 1178-1179, and in George Nichols' 
History of the English Poor Law, London, 1854, vol. ii, p. 375- 



69] THE UNIVERSAL DISTRESS 69 

writing on the wall and granted out-door relief to a greater 
number of applicants than immediately after the introduc- 
tion of the new measure, their ideal means of succor was 
still the workhouse. And all this in face of the universal 
indignation which was manifested throughout the whole 
country. There is no wonder, then, that Tory politicians, 
as well as radical friends of labor, were remorseless in 
their denunciation of both the Whigs and their New Poor 
Law. The hatred displayed by the Tories was nurtured by 
their instinctive fear of the newly-formed capitalist class 
which began to assert its power in quite an arrogant way. 
But it was this very acquisition of power by the middle class 
that caused the apprehension of the radicals. Their name 
was legion who believed with Bronterre, even as early as 
1837, that the object of the New Poor Law was to reduce 
labor " to the lowest rate of remuneration at which exist- 
ence can be sustained ". The new class was pictured as a 
band of " the greatest tyrants over the people ", since " the 
most formidable, as well as the most remorseless of all 
despotisms, is the despotism of money ". 1 

The last session of Parliament in 1838 was bombarded 
with petitions bearing the signatures of 269,000 persons 
who requested the repeal of the new measure, whereas only 
thirty-five petitions with 952 signatures were presented in 
favor of retention of the New Poor Law. The people felt 
themselves outraged and expressed their resentment at 
public meetings, some of which were attended by crowds 
whose numbers were estimated at 300,ooo. 2 The Whigs, 
however, were not to be daunted, and the party in power 
continued to remain brutally heedless to the desperate cry 
of millions of men and women. 

1 See Bronterre's National Reformer, January 28, Feb. 11 and March 
18, 1837. 

2 Hansard, op. cit., vol. xli, 1838, pp. 1005-1006. 



CHAPTER V 

Call Chartism by what name you 
will, its principles have sprung from 
the infant blood of English children; 
and though you water them with the 
blood of millions, yet, by the God who 
made us all equal, I swear that I will 
take the little children, their fathers, 
and their mothers, out of your toils 
and grasp, or die in the attempt ! 

— Feargus O'Connor. 

Labor Legislation and Trade Unionism 

The working class was keenly disappointed in the 
Whigs for their hostile attitude towards labor legislation. 
It was the ultra Tories, Richard Oastler, Michael Thomas 
Sadler and Lord Ashley x who led the campaign against the 

1 Richard Oastler (1789-1861), the "king of the factory children," 
was a Tory and an advocate of the abolition of slavery in the West 
Indies. He led the agitation for the ten-hour day from 1830 on- 
wards. In 1830 he began his series of fiery letters to the Leeds Mer- 
cury, and afterwards to the Leeds Intelligencer, on the " Yorkshire 
Slavery." He vigorously opposed the New Poor Law, and was im- 
prisoned for debt in 1840; the Whigs repeatedly offered to pay his 
debt and confer other favors upon him if he would give up his agita- 
tion against the Poor Laws. He refused to make any deal with his 
conscience, and for three years remained in prison, whence he pub- 
lished his Fleet Papers, in which he incessantly urged the need of fac- 
tory reform and the abolition of the Poor Laws. 

Michael Thomas Sadler (1780-1835), Tory, philanthropist and writer 

on political economy, introduced a bill for restricting child labor in 

1831. He was chairman of the Select Committee appointed to inquire 

into the condition of the children employed in factories, and his solic- 

70 [70 



yj-j LABOR LEGISLATION AND TRADE UNIONISM yi 

evils of the factory system and demanded the amelioration 
of workmen's conditions. The Short Time Committee was 
justly described as a curious " combination of Socialists, 
Chartists and ultra Tories "/ but the Whig representatives 
were at all times conspicuous by their absence from among 
those who fought the people's battle. 2 

The fight was forced on the advocates of labor legisla- 
tion by the condition of the men, women and children who 
were employed in factories. It started at the time when 
the employers' demand for freedom of contract was in com- 
plete harmony with the laissez-faire doctrine of the econo- 
mists. This doctrine proclaimed it a " natural law " that 
employers and employees should be allowed to make what 
arrangements they pleased between themselves, without in- 
terference on the part of the government. It required a 
kind of philosophical courage, besides a warm feeling for 
the exploited, to oppose the then prevailing notions of 
social justice. When the Ten-Hour Movement grew 
stronger, the ethical and abstract ideas were left to take 
care of themselves, and the opponents of the movement 
began to promulgate the economic or commercial argument 
for which Nassau Senior stood sponsor. The whole ques- 

itous and unremitting work was said to have been a contributing cause 
to his premature death. 

Anthony Ashley Cooper, Lord Ashley, afterwards Lord Shaftesbury 
(1801-1885), Tory, became interested in factory children in 1832 and 
introduced a Ten^Hour Bill in 1833. He was the most zealous advo- 
cate of labor legislation and an ardent social reformer. 

1 The Leeds Mercury, March 23, 1844. 

2 The most prominent leaders in the agitation against child labor, be- 
sides Oastler, Sadler and Ashley, were the Rev. J. R. Stephens, the 
Chartist leader; John Doherty, the general secretary of the Federation 
of Cotton Spinners, a Chartist; George Condy, the editor of the Man- 
chester and Salford Advertiser; Philip Grant; and later the radical 
Tohn Fielden, who took Lord Ashley's place during his temporary re- 
tirement from the House in 1846. 



72 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [y 2 

tion was then presented from the point of view of economic 
expediency. Starting with the assumption that in the 
cotton manufacture " the whole profit is derived from the 
last hour " , and that "if the hours of working were reduced 
by one hour per day, net profit would be destroyed; if they 
were reduced by an hour and a half, even gross profit would 
be destroyed ", — Senior reached the ingenious conclusion 
that it was in the interest of the working classes themselves 
to oppose the reduction of the hours of labor, which would 
be " attended by the most fatal consequences ". As to the 
exertion and overwork, Senior thought that the work of 
children and young persons in the cotton mills was " mere 
confinement, attention and attendance ", and it was scarcely 
possible to feel fatigue after " extremely long hours " of 
work. 1 

This last view of Mr. Senior was, to say the least, a pre- 
posterous denial of actual conditions. The government re- 
ports, as well as the accounts in contemporary newspapers 
and magazines, tell quite a different story. Dr. Kay, him- 
self an opponent of state interference with the hours of 
labor, depicts the condition of the factory laborer in the 
following lines : " Whilst the engine runs the people must 
work, — men, women and children are yoked together with 
iron and steam. The animal machine — breakable in the 
best case, subject to a thousand sources of suffering, — is 
chained fast to the iron machine, which knows no suffering 
and no weariness." 2 Another opponent of the factory 
act, Mr. Roebuck, wrote from Glasgow in 1838 that he 
visited a cotton mill where he saw a sight that froze his 
blood. 

1 Nassau William Senior, Letters on the Factory Act, London, 1837, 
pp. 12-13. 

3 James Philip Kay, Moral and Physical Conditions of the Operatives 
Employed in the Cotton Manufacture in Manchester, 1832, p. 24. 



73] LABOR LEGISLATION AND TRADE UNIONISM 73 

The place was full of women, young all of them, some large 
with child, and obliged to stand twelve hours each day. Then- 
hours are from five in the morning to seven in the evening, 
two hours of that being for rest, SO' that they stand twelve 
clear hours. The heat was excessive in some of the rooms, 
the stink pestiferous, and in all an atmosphere of cotton flue. 
I nearly fainted. 1 

The employment of women and children was attacked by 
Ashley and his followers on the ground that it inevitably 
breaks up the family. Of the 419,560 factory operatives in 
Great Britain in 1839, for instance, 192,887, or 46 per 
cent were under eighteen years of age; the 242,296 females 
included 112,192 girls under eighteen years of age. Only 
96,569, or 2^ per cent, were adult male operatives. 2 Women 
were reported to return to the factory three or four days 
after confinement and dripping wet with milk while at work. 

The pestilent atmosphere and the inevitable contact 
of many people in one work-room had a detrimental 
effect on the morals of the factory employees- In Man- 
chester three-fourths of such employees at the age of 
from fourteen to twenty years were reported unchaste. 3 

An estimate of sexual morality, — writes one of the commis- 
sioners, — cannot readily be reduced to figures ; but if I may 
trust my own observations and the general opinion of those 
with whom I have spoken, as well as the whole tenor of the 
testimony furnished me, the aspect of the influence of factory 
life upon the morality of the youthful female population is 
most depressing. 4 

1 R. E. Leader, Life of Roebuck, quoted by B. L. Hutchins and A. 
Harrison in the History of Factory Legislation, Westminster, 1903, pp. 
91-92. 

2 See Ashley's Speech of March 15, 1844, in Hansard, op. cit., vol. 
Ixxiii. 

3 Cf. Report from Commissioners Appointed to Collect Information 
in the Manufacturing Districts, 1834, Cowell Evidence, p. 57. 

* Ibid., Hawkins' Report, p. 4. 



74 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [74 

The report of the Select Committee also brought to light 
many facts in regard to the employment of children in 
factories. Children of five years of age were very few, but 
there was a considerable number of six-year-old and a 
still greater number of seven-year-old children; the great- 
est number, however, consisted of children of from eight 
to nine years of age. The working-day frequently lasted 
from fourteen to sixteen hours, and the children were under 
a cruel discipline of overseers who enforced authority by 
corporal punishment. The extremely long hours of work 
brought with them, Mr. Senior's assertion to the contrary 
notwithstanding, most serious consequences not only from 
the point of view of morality, but also from a purely physio- 
logical standpoint. 1 The commissioners' report contains 
abundant evidence of the horrible effect of the factory sys- 
tem on the population. Children were deformed, often 
seized naked in bed by overseers and driven with blows to 
the factory ; women were made unfit for child-bearing ; men 
were crippled ; whole generations afflicted with disease. It was 
these monstrosities that roused the friends of the people to 
exclaim against the factory system. The discontent of the 
laborers, crude and sporadic in the beginning of the Indus- 
trial Revolution, assumed all the aspects of social war which 
stratified the population of Great Britain with marvelous 
rapidity. Criminal offenses against property were super- 
seded by strikes, abortive and irresponsible in the beginning, 
but becoming ever more organized and systematic, as the 
divorce between the functions and interests of the employer 
and those of the workman became more inevitable with 
each stride of the capitalist regime. 

1 Cf. ibid., Dr. Loudon Evidence , pp. 12, 13 and 16; Drinkwaier Evi- 
dence, pp. 72, 80, 146, 150 and 155; Power Evidence, pp. 63 and 66-69; 
Sir D. Barry Evidence, pp. 6, 8, 13, 21, 44 and 55; Tufnell Evidence, 
pp. 5, 6 and 16. 



75] LABOR LEGISLATION AND TRADE UNIONISM 75 

Attempts at trade unionism were made even in the be- 
ginning of the new factory system. Adam Smith had 
already observed that " people of the same trade seldom 
meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the 
conversation ends in conspiracy against the public or in 
some contrivance to raise prices ". 1 There certainly were 
such " conspiracies " among the members of the working 
class. As early as 1806 the government reported the ex- 
istence of some kind of a national union of clothworkers 
with a central committee at the head. 2 Benefit clubs and 
other associations were formed at the end of the eighteenth 
and the beginning of the nineteenth centuries both for the 
purpose of carrying on parliamentary agitation against the 
factory owners and for industrial combination and class 
struggle. Parliament, of course, was persistent in its 
laissez-faire policy and, in spite of the persevering demands 
of the operatives for a minimum rate of wages and a legal 
limitation of the number of apprentices, the House of 
Commons was more than once carried in the interests of 
members whose factories swarmed with children. Indus- 
trial combinations of workmen being legally forbidden and 
severely prosecuted during the first quarter of the nine- 
teenth century, artisans were forced into a system of con- 
spiracy against employers and of cruel treatment of non- 
unionists. The attempt of the workingmen at organized 
political agitation against the Combination Laws was imme- 
diately crushed by the notorious " Six Acts " of 1819. 
These laws suppressed well-nigh all public meetings, im- 
posed a very high stamp duty on all labor publications and 
stringently enforced the law on seditious libels, thus exposing 
authors or publishers to the penalty of banishment from all 

1 Wealth of Nations (McCulloch's edition, 1863), book i, chap, x, p. 59. 

2 See Report of the Committee on the Woollen Manufacture, 1806, 
p. 16. 



76 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [76 

parts of his Majesty's dominion or of transportation to 
special places, if anything was printed which was not to 
the taste of the government. There was, on the part of 
the latter, an evident determination to resort to nothing 
but force. " They think of nothing else " — protested 
a member of Parliament, — " they dream of nothing 
else; they will try no means of conciliation; they will 
make no attempt to pacify and reconcile; force — force — 
force — and nothing but force ". 1 Radicalism was repre- 
sented as a spirit, " of which the first elements are a rejec- 
tion of Scripture, and a contempt of all the institutions of 
your country, and of which the results, unless averted by a 
merciful Providence, must be anarchy, atheism, and uni- 
versal ruin ". 2 Radicals were accordingly branded and 
treated as traitors. " Orator " Hunt and Cobbett, the her- 
alds of the English labor movement, were abused, mal- 
treated, and, therefore, driven to extremes. Even Francis 
Place, 3 the champion political wire-puller and labor lobby- 

1 Tierney in the House of Commons, as quoted in Walpole's History 
of England, vol. i, pp. 516-517. 

2 Walpole's History of England, vol. i, p. 426. 

s Francis Place (1771-1854), a master tailor, was the son of a brutal 
father, who, to amuse himself, used to knock his children down. In 
1808 Place became acquainted with James Mill and Bentham, and soon 
became their pupil, associate, and friend; with Bentham, he was on 
affectionate terms. In their letters they used to address one another, 
" My dear old father," and " Dear good boy," respectively. Since 1818 
he devoted all his time and energy to the agitation for the repeal of the 
Combination Laws and to the Reform movement, and proved himself 
a remarkable politician. His shop at Charing Cross was the center of 
the radicals and reformers, and his " Civic Library " was a kind of 
rendezvous for members of Parliament and social agitators of all 
sorts. He was to a great extent responsible for the diffusion of the 
Benthamite ideas among the English-speaking people. His role in the 
repeal of the Combination Laws was that of an organizer and political 
wire-puller. He was a great collector of social, economic and labor 
facts, and his invaluable manuscript records are now in the possession 
of the British Museum. A not inconsiderable portion of the economic 
tracts collected and annotated by him is in the library of Professor 
Edwin R. A. Seligman. 



77] LABOR LEGISLATION AND TRADE UNIONISM jj 

ist, for a long time could hardly secure a hearing in Parlia- 
ment. But his victory in 1825, securing to the working 
class the right of collective bargaining, proved mere sec- 
tional combination ineffective as long as the government 
machinery remained in the hands of the employers. Then 
came the reform of 1832 which substituted one set of politi- 
cal masters for another, and dampened the enthusiasm of 
the working class for political reforms. For a time the 
stratagem of the labor leaders was conducted on an exclu- 
sively industrial plan and the social war acquired a still 
more formidable aspect. Trade unionism became the battle- 
cry of the friends of the laborers, and the employers were 
thrown into a state of extreme apprehension. New hopes 
were infused into the hearts of the lowly, and a new creed 
was given them by Robert Owen and his followers- Palia- 
tive remedies in the form of social legislation began to be 
despised. There was a bigger thing for the working class 
to do — to reconstruct the whole society on a new basis. 

The practical Utopia of Owen was backed by the theo- 
retical doctrines of the then popular socialist writers. 
Charles Hall's admirable work The Effects of Civilization 
on the People in European States preached a social crusade, 
while William Godwin's Political Justice pointed to the 
system of private property as the root of all social evil. 
The writings of William Thompson, Thomas Hodgskin, 
John Gray, and the minor so-called Ricardian socialists, 
taught the propertyless that labor was the only universal 
measure and characteristic distinction of wealth and that 
labor should, therefore, enjoy the whole produce of its ex- 
ertions, while, on the other hand, every individual who did 
not apply his own hands to the factors of production, — all 
merchants, manufacturers, clerks, shopmen, directors, 
superintendents, — was a direct tax upon the manual 



78 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [78 

laborer. 1 All these doctrines strongly tended to promote 
the formation of Owenite societies. 

A characteristic description of the Owenite intoxication 
of that period is given by Francis Place : 

The nonsensical doctrine preached by Robert Owen and 
others respecting communities and goods in common ; abundance 
of everything man ought to desire, and all for four hours' 
labor out of every twenty-four; the right of every man to his 
share of the earth in common, and his right to whatever his 
hands had been employed upon; the power of masters under 
the present system to give just what wages they pleased; the 
right of the laborer to such wages as would maintain him and 
his comfort for eight or ten hours' labor; the right of every 
man who was unemployed to employment and to such an 
amount of wages as has been indicated — and other matters 
of a similar kind which were continually inculcated by the 
workingmen's political unions, by many small knots of persons, 
printed in small pamphlets and handbills which were sold 
twelve for a penny and distributed to a great extent — had 
pushed politics aside, . . . among the working people. These 
pamphlets were written almost wholly by men of talent and of 
some standing in the world, professional men, gentlemen, 
manufacturers, tradesmen, and men called literary. The con- 
sequences were that a very large proportion of the working 
people in England and Scotland became persuaded that they 
had only to combine, as it was concluded they might easily do, 
to compel not only a considerable advance of wages all round, 
but employment for every one, man and woman, who needed 
it, at short hours. This notion induced them to form them- 
selves into Trades Unions in a manner and to an extent never 
before known. 2 

The wage-earner, however, soon experienced a bitter dis- 

1 See Professor Edwin R. A. Seligman, " On Some Neglected British 
Economists," in the Economic Journal, vol. xiii, 1903. 

3 See Sidney and Beatrice Webb, History of Trade Unionism, 1902, 
pp. 141-142. 



79] LABOR LEGISLATION AND TRADE UNIONISM yg 

appointment which he felt the more because of his high 
aspirations. Taught by the gospel of Utopia to- despise 
specific, regulative and immediate remedies, and to strive 
for one which would apply to all social evils and to all in- 
iquities, he acquired an aggressive and haughty attitude 
towards the " unproductive " classes, provoking reciprocal 
hatred and stringent opposition from the latter. The capi- 
talists were naturally not loth to remove the " Day of Judg- 
ment " to as remote a future as they possibly could, and 
they saw to it that the new industrial organization, the 
" New Moral World ", should not " come suddenly upon 
society like a thief in the night ". In fact, their watch was 
so alert that the strongest trades unions came to grief as 
soon as they attempted to realize their humblest plans. The 
aggressive policy of the laborers encountered a still more 
determined opposition not only on the part of the employers 
but also of the government. In this case the latter enjoyed 
the fruit of the wisdom of Nassau Senior, who, as commis- 
sioner appointed to inquire into the state of combinations 
and strikes, recorded his conviction, which was based exclu- 
sively on statements and hearsay gossip of employers, that 
" the general evils and general dangers of combinations 
cannot easily be exaggerated ", that " if a few agitators can 
command and enforce a strike which first paralyzes the in- 
dustry of the peculiar class of workpeople over whom they 
tyrannize, and then extends itself in an increasing circle 
over the many thousands and tens of thousands to whose 
labor the assistance of that peculiar class of workpeople 
is essential . . . that if this state of things is to continue, 
we shall not retain the industry, the skill, or the capital, on 
which our manufacturing superiority, and, with that super- 
iority, our power and almost our existence as a nation, de- 
pends 'V 

1 Nassau W. Senior, Historical and Philosophical Essays, London, 
1865, vol. ii, p. 171. 



80 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [80 

The employers stopped short of nothing until they had 
succeeded in defeating and crushing the labor organizations. 
Even the most popular Grand National Consolidated Trades 
Union which was started, through the agitation of Robert 
Owen, in 1834, and which enrolled within a few weeks at 
least half a million members, men and women of various 
trades, was exterminated by the combination of employers 
who resorted to lock-outs in order to force the laborers to 
abandon the union. The conviction of many strikers and 
the barbarous sentences brought against them by the courts 
were enough to chill the most ardent followers of the new 
order. 1 Notice was served that a bill would be introduced 
to make combinations of trades impossible. Many a trades 
unionist began to suspect that the new moral world could 
not be ushered in without a hard struggle in the teeth of a 
hostile government, subservient commissioners and corrupt 
courts. Conspiracies, intimidation and violence on the part 
of workingmen began to show signs of something more 
dangerous than the talk of some future Day of Judgment. 
The capitalists, however, blinded by their easy victories, 
were unable to read the handwriting on the wall. Union 
after union was disbanded and crushed by the newly-formed 
Chamber of Commerce, thus driving multitudes of people 
into the very pit of revolution. " Back to politics !" became 
the slogan of the bulk of laborers. Politics again became 
the emblem of something which could give everything and 
deprive of everything; Parliament began to be regarded 
with awe as a new Almighty in whose word lay life and 
death. And it was quite natural. The workingmen lost 
their battle on the industrial field, and they lost it because 
the machinery of government was turned against them. 
The important point of stratagem appeared to lie in the 

1 See George Loveless, The Victims of Whiggery, London, 1837. 



gj] LABOR LEGISLATION AND TRADE UNIONISM 8 1 

capture of that machinery and its use against the capitalists. 
The New Poor Law, the hostility and treachery of the gov- 
ernment and the crushing defeat of labor organizations 
brought, to use Cobbett's words on an earlier occasion, the 
issue of the working class " to be a question of actual star- 
vation or fighting for food; and when it comes to that 
point, I know that Englishmen will never lie down and die 
by hundreds by the wayside." 1 

The apotheosis of political power brought again the issue 
of universal suffrage to the foreground. The foremost 
radical writers renewed their fight for " freedom ". Bron- 
terre started his National Reformer on the 7th of January, 
1837, with the declaration that the " money monster " must 
be fought with his own weapons : 

Government, Lazv, Property, Religion, and Morals, these 
five words embrace everything that affects our happiness as 
social beings, and consequently all that a reformer can have 
to deal with. I place Government at the head, because upon 
that do all the rest really depend. It is the Government that 
makes the law. The law determines the property — and on the 
state of property depend the religion and morals, and (as a 
consequence) the zuell-being and happiness of every people 
in the world. . . . The parent cause (of the wretched condi- 
tion of the people) being bad government, we must necessarily 
begin with that — and if the government be bad, because, as I 
contend, it is wrongly constituted, our first attempt must be 
to have it constituted rightly. Here, then, I am at once con- 
ducted to my old ground, universal suffrage. A government 
which does not represent the interests of all who are called 
upon to obey its laws, is necessarily a wrongly constituted 
government. 

In his article on " Social Occupations " in the same issue 

1 See the Political Register, October 20, 1815. 



82 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [g 2 

he dwells at some length on the same question and upbraids 
the masses for their want of sufficient interest in universal 
suffrage. Says he : 

I know but one way of salvation for us — but one way of 
felling the monster without being buried underneath his ruins ; 
it is to smite him with the authority of the law, having first got 
the law on the people's side. It is only by having first got the 
law on his side, that he has been able to prostrate us. Why 
should not we be able to do the same by him when we have 
got the law on ours ? . . . What right has he to exclude you 
more than you to exclude him ? .... I am, therefore, obliged, 
— reluctantly, but unavoidably obliged — to conclude that your 
exclusion is the work of your own ignorant and craven sub- 
mission. You have made no bold efforts as a body — no grand 
demonstrations to obtain the franchise; you have occasionally 
petitioned, it is true, but your petitions were " few and far 
between ", they were also weak and desultory, seldom bold 
and commanding — never simultaneous and absorbing. You 
talked in them about your paying taxes, and being liable to 
serve in the militia, and all that sort of unconsequential rub- 
bish, but you never put forward your claims resolutely, as men 
who had an equal, and even a superior stake in the question, to 
that of your oppressors — namely, your very lives, which are 
hourly threatened with destruction by the murderous money- 
monster. Much less did you meet simultaneously, and in 
millions, to demonstrate the absorbing interest you took in the 
question. On the contrary, you were satisfied, even in your 
best days, to abandon your case to the care of a few dema- 
gogues, who, however honest and brave, could do nothing 
for you without some grand national movement on your own 
part. 

The reproach of Bronterre came at a time when the seeds 
of discontent had already begun to sprout to the surface. 
The " grand national movement " was on its way. It was 
but a short time after those lines had been penned that from 



83] LABOR LEGISLATION AND TRADE UNIONISM 83 

the ruins of trade unionism arose a magnificent tower 
which, for over a decade, allured the misery-stricken lowly, 
and illumined the way for millions of devoted and heroic 
men and women. 

The name of that tower was Chartism. 



CHAPTER VI 

Knaves will tell you that it is be- 
cause you have no property you are 
unrepresented. I tell you, on the con- 
trary, it is because you are unrepre- 
sented that you have no property. 
— Bronterre. 

The People's Charter 

The London Working Men's Association was organized 
on the 1 6th of June, 1836, under the leadership of men who 
for a number of years had been associated with various 
phases of the labor movement. Henry Hetherington and 
John Cleave, the champions of a free unstamped press, Wil- 
liam Lovett, Henry Vincent, George Julian Harney and 
other prominent members of trade unions, little thought then 
that the movement which they inaugurated was destined to 
play such a revolutionary role in the life of the English 
working class. Humble, indeed, were the objects which 
the association set for itself to achieve. Liberalism, Radi- 
calism, Trade Unionism, Socialism, Owenism and Rotund- 
ism, were reduced to the following lowest common denomin- 
ators : x 

1. To draw into one bond of utility the intelligent and in- 
fluential portion of the working classes in town and country. 

2. To seek by every legal means to place all classes of society 
in possession of their equal political and social rights. 

3. To devise every possible means, and to use every exertion, 
to remove those cruel laws that prevent the free circulation of 
thought through the medium of a cheap and honest press. 

1 See Address and Rules of the Working Men's Association, for 
Benefiting Socially and Morally the Useful Classes, London, 1836. 
84 [84 



85] THE PEOPLE'S CHARTER 85 

4. To promote, by all available means, the education of the 
rising generation, and the extirpation of those systems which 
tend to future slavery. 

5. To collect every kind of information appertaining to the 
interests of the working classes in particular and society in 
general, especially statistics regarding the wages of labor, 
the habits and condition of the laborer, and all those that mainly 
contribute to the present state of things. 

6. To meet and communicate with each other for the pur- 
pose of digesting the information required, and to mature 
such plans as they believe will conduce in practice to the well- 
being of the working classes. 

7. To publish their views and sentiments in such form and 
manner as shall best serve to create a moral, reflecting, yet 
energetic public opinion; so as eventually to lead to a gradual 
improvement in the condition of the working classes, without 
violence or commotion. 

8. To form a library of reference and useful information ; to 
maintain a place where they can associate for mental improve- 
ment, and where their brethren from the country can meet 
with kindred minds actuated by one great motive — that of bene- 
fiting politically, socially, and morally, the useful classes. 

In this address, calling upon the working class to form 
similar societies, the association cautions " strictly to adhere 
to a judicious selection of their members," The working- 
men are exhorted to make " the principles of democracy as 
respectable in practice as they are just in theory, by exclud- 
ing the drunken and immoral from our ranks and uniting 
in close compact with the honest, sober, moral and thinking 
portion of our brethren." 

The rules of the association made only workingmen 
eligible for membership. The card issued by the associa- 
tion to its members contained the following maxim : " The 
man who evades his share of useful labor diminishes the 
public stock of wealth and throws his own burden upon 



86 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [86 

his neighbor." Persons not of the " industrious classes " 
were admitted only as honorary members and could par- 
ticipate in the debates and discussions and attend all meet- 
ings, but were debarred from holding any office or from 
taking any part in the management of the organization. 

The exclusiveness of the association was the direct re- 
sult of former experiences with radical representatives of 
the middle class. Lovett tells only half of the story 
when he attributes the fixed rule of exclusiveness to a desire 
" to try an experiment," in order to evince the discrimina- 
tion and independent spirit in the management of their poli- 
tical affairs, in which the workingmen were found wanting. 
" The masses and their political organizations were taught 
to look up> to great men (or to men professing greatness) 
rather than to great principles. We wished, therefore, to es- 
tablish a political school of self -instruction among them, 
in which they should accustom themselves to examine great 
social and political principles." 1 

The address published by the association, however, be- 
trays the real cause : 

It has been said by some that our objects are exclusive, seeing 
we wish to confine our association to workingmen. We reply, 
that judging from experience and appearance, the political 
and social regeneration of the working classes must be begun 
by themselves, and, therefore, they should not admit any pre- 
ponderating influence of wealth or title to swerve them from 
their duty. . . . Let not, however, the men of wealth imagine 
that we have any ulterior designs inimical to their rights, or 
views opposed to the peace and harmony of society. On the 
contrary, we seek to render property more secure; life more 
sacred; and to preserve inviolate every institution that can be 
made to contribute to the happiness of man. We only seek 

1 William Lovett, Life and Struggles, pp. 91-92. 



87] THE PEOPLE'S CHARTER gy 

that share in the institutions and government of our country 
which our industry and usefulness justly merit. 

The address was signed by Henry Hetherington, treas- 
urer, and William Lovett, secretary, but was apparently com- 
posed by men of various creeds. It expressed no* clear-cut 
principle ; it held forth no fixed ideal. While it consoled the 
men of wealth with the assertion that the association had 
no ulterior or sinister designs, that it did not intend " to get 
a. transfer of wealth, power or influence for a party," it also 
vowed to probe social evils to their source and " to apply 
effective remedies to prevent instead of unjust laws to pun- 
ish." The source of social evils, not clearly visible in this 
declaration, was revealed, however, in a subsequent address 
of the association to the working classes of Belgium, issued 
In November, 1836. Starting with the interesting assertion 
that "the cause of those foolish dissentions between nations 
lies in the ignorance " of the workingmen of their position 
in society, the address continues : 

Ignorance has caused us to believe that we were " born to 
toil," and others to enjoy — that we were naturally inferior, and 
should silently bow to the government of those who were 
pleased to call themselves superior; and consequently those 
who have governed us have done so for their own advantage, 
and not ours. . . . Their laws have been enacted to perpetu- 
ate their power, and administered to generate fear and sub- 
mission towards self-constituted greatness, hereditary ignor- 
ance, or wealth, however unjustly acquired. . . . Our eman- 
cipation, however, will depend on the extent of this knowl- 
edge among the working classes of all countries, or its salutary 
effects in causing us to perceive our real position in society — 
in causing us to feel that we, being the producers of wealth, 
have the first claim to its enjoyment. 1 

1 William Lovett, op. cit., p. 98. 



88 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [88 

The association recognized the importance of political 
power from the beginning and set forth its views in a three- 
penny pamphlet — The Rotten House of Commons. 1 The 
pamphlet contained statistical information on the composi- 
tion of Parliament. The tables were compiled from Parlia- 
mentary returns and from the elaborate works of reputable 
statisticians. They showed that tH of the entire popu- 
lation, or ^ of the adult males above the age of twenty- 
one, had the power of passing all the laws in the House of 
Commons, which would be binding upon all inhabitants of 
England. The proportion of registered electors who had 
the vote to the number of males above twenty-one years of 
age in the United Kingdom was about I to yj4- The com- 
position of the reformed House of Commons was shown to 
consist exclusively of members of the nobility, of the army 
and navy, the barristers and solicitors and of the moneyed 
classes. 

The people of England were invited to reflect on the 
question whether the working classes had fit representatives 
in the great number of land-holders, money-makers, specu- 
lators, usurers, lords, earls, and other honorables, as well as 
in the number of military and navy representatives, barris- 
ters, solicitors, etc. 

Are the manufacturer and capitalist, whose exclusive monopoly 
of the combined powers of wood, iron, and steam, enables them 
to cause the destitution of thousands, and who have an interest 
in forcing labor down to the minimum _ reward, fit to represent 
the interests of working men? Is the master, whose interest 
it is to purchase labor at the cheapest rate, a fit representative 
for the workman, whose interest it is to get the most he can 
for his labor? 

1 The Rotten House of Commons, being an Exposition of the Present 
State of the Franchise, and an Appeal to the Nation of the Course to 
be Pursued in the Approaching Crisis, Hetherington, Strand. 



89] THE PEOPLE'S CHARTER gg 

The association urged the laborers to refuse to be the 
tools of any party who' will not, as a first and essential 
measure, give to the working classes equal political and 
social rights, so that they may send their own representa- 
tives, from the ranks of those who' live by labor, 

to deliberate and determine along with all other interests, that 
the interests of the laboring classes — of those who are the 
foundation of the social edifice — shall not be daily sacrificed 
to glut the extravagance of the pampered few. If you feel 
with us, then you will proclaim it in the workshop, preach it in 
your societies, publish it from town to village, from county to 
county, and from nation to nation, that there is no hope for 
the sons of toil, till those who feel with them, who sympathise 
with them, and whose interests are identified with theirs, have 
an equal right to determine what laws shall be enacted or plans 
adopted for justly governing this country. 

The association had Hetherington's weekly " Twopenny 
Despatch " at its disposal. It was not satisfied, however, 
with printed propaganda alone. Immediately upon its for- 
mation, Hetherington, Vincent and Cleave were engaged to 
make an agitation tour all over the country. They depicted 
the wrongs of the toiling classes and fanned the passions of 
the people into a flame. Within a very short time they were 
successful in organizing a great number of workingmen's 
associations. Encouraged by the general response of the 
masses, the association published a petition for a new Par- 
liamentary Constitution. The petition contained the essence 
of the pamphlet — The Rotten House of Commons, and was 
commented upon by the radical writers as one of the most 
important documents. Bronterre reprinted it in his Na- 
tional Reformer of February 11, 1837, with the following 
editorial remarks " to the unrepresented millions " : 

I have seen few documents that comprise so many important 



90 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [g Q 

facts within an equal space ; I have not seen any which reflects 
the mind of indignant industry with brighter effect ; or which, 
as a clear and powerful exposition of the wrongs inflicted on 
you, and of the rights withheld, is better calculated to chal- 
lenge regard and sympathy in your behalf. 

The petition was drawn up by William Lovett and con- 
tained the nucleus of the subsequently famous People's 
Charter. 1 The House of Commons was requested to enact 
a law with the following " six points " : 

(i) Equal Representation. 

(2) Universal Suffrage. 

(3) Annual Parliaments. 

(4) No Property Qualifications. 

(5) Vote by Ballot. 

(6) Payments to Members. 

On the 28 of February, 1837, a great public meeting was 
held in London, at the Crown and Anchor, under the aus- 
pices of the London Working Men's Association, at which, 
after the petition was approved and signed by about three 
thousand persons, a unanimous resolution was carried to 
present it to Parliament. Having no representatives of 
their own, the association entrusted the petition to J. A. 
Roebuck, who was at that time considered the most staunch 
advocate of democratic principles in the House of Commons. 
On his advice, the association issued a circular to all radical 
members of Parliament to meet at the British Coffee-house, 
in Cockspur Street, on the 3rd of May, 1837, and at this 
meeting, which was attended by several members of the 
House, including Daniel O'Connell, Joseph Hume, Colonel 
T. P. Thompson, W. S. Crawford, J. T. Leader and others, 
Lovett introduced the subject on the part of the association. 

1 See Appendix A. 



91 ] THE PEOPLE'S CHARTER g Z 

The discussions which lasted for two evenings resulted in 
the unanimous adoption of four important resolutions. In 
the first, the members of Parliament agreed to support 
Representative Roebuck in his proposition for universal 
suffrage. In the second, they pledged themselves to sup- 
port and vote for any bill embodying " the principles of 
universal suffrage, equal representation, free selection of 
representatives without reference to property, the ballot, and 
short parliaments of fixed duration, the limit not to exceed 
three years." The third resolution bound them to support 
and vote for a bill for such reform of the House of Lords 
as shall render it responsible to the people. The fourth 
resolution provided that a committee of twelve be appointed 
to draw up a bill in a legal form embodying the above prin- 
ciples and to submit it to another joint meeting. These 
resolutions were signed by Daniel O'Connell, Charles Hind- 
ley, W. S. Crawford, J. T. Leader, John Fielden, T. 
Wakley, D. W. Harvey, T. P. Thompson, J. A. Roebuck, 
and Dr. Bowring. The committee appointed to draw up 
the bill consisted of O'Connell, Roebuck, Leader, Hindley, 
Colonel Thompson, Crawford, Lovett, Hetherington, Vin- 
cent, Cleave, J. Watson, and R. Moore, — the last six being 
members of the association. 

The death of William IV led to the prorogation of Par- 
liament. On this occasion, the association issued an ad- 
dress to reformers on the forthcoming elections, urging that 
only those candidates should be returned, who would pledge 
themselves to universal suffrage and " all the other essen- 
tials of self-government." It was in this address that the 
association for the first time referred to the " six points " 
as the People's Charter. 

The address was circulated among all workingmen's as- 
sociations and political unions. It was at this juncture that 
the famous Birmingham Political Union which had kept 



92 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [g 2 

aloof from the new political agitation declared itself in favor 
of the petition. The Birmingham laborers were considered 
the aristocracy of the working class; the political union en- 
joyed the reputation of having been greatly responsible for 
the successful issue of the campaign for the Reform Bill 
of 1832. The entrance of the Birmingham union into a 
new campaign for universal suffrage was, therefore, hailed 
by the workingmen's associations as a singular victory for 
their cause. Their satisfaction was particularly enhanced 
after the publication by the union of an address, in which 
it confessed its disappointment with the Whigs and attri- 
buted the distress of the people to the discredited Reform 
Bill: 

The motive and end of all legislation is the happiness of the 
universal people. Let us try the Reform Bill by that test. 
. . . What do we find? Merchants bankrupt, workmen un- 
employed and starving, workhouses crowded, factories de- 
serted, distress and dissatisfaction everywhere prevalent. . . . 
Were the people fully and fairly represented in Parliament, 
would such things be? 

After the accession of Queen Victoria, the London 
Working Men's Association in conjunction with other or- 
ganizations prepared an address to Her Majesty. An ex- 
change of correspondence took place between Lovett and 
Lord John Russell, then Secretary of State for the Home 
Department. Lovett requested that a deputation of six per- 
sons be presented personally to the Queen. Russell replied 
that the deputation would have to wait until Her Majesty 
held a levee, and that they must attend in court dress. 
Lovett's retort was that they had " neither the means nor 
the inclination to indulge in such absurdities as dress coats 
and wigs ", and he expressed the hope that the day was not 
distant, when some better means would be devised " for 



9 3 ] THE PEOPLE'S CHARTER 93 

letting the sovereign hear of the addresses and petitions of 
the people." The address to the Queen, as well as the cor- 
respondence between Lovett and Russell, caused much com- 
ment in the press. In the address the Queen was asked to 
cause a bill to be introduced for the extension of the right 
of suffrage to all the adult population of the kingdom. The 
address was couched in courteous but resolute terms, point- 
ing to the " many monstrous anomalies springing out of the 
constitution of society, the corruptions of government and 
the defective education of mankind " as the cause of the 
abnormal condition that the bulk of the nation were toiling 
slaves from birth till death, that the middle classes were 
racked with the curse of business distrust, few being spared 
from bankruptcy, and that but a trifling portion of the suc- 
cessful few could be found " free from the disease of sloth 
and cares of idleness and debauchery." The exclusive few 
— it was set out — used all their means to retain within their 
own circle all the legislative and executive powers in order 
to protect themselves against the wrath of the suffering 
multitudes and to perpetuate " their own despotic sway." 

The economic suffering of the masses is directly attri- 
buted to the want of suffrage: 

To this baneful source of exclusive political power may be 
traced the persecution of fanaticism, the feuds of superstition, 
and most of the wars and carnage which disgrace our history. 
To this pernicious origin may justly be attributed the unre- 
mitted toil and wretchedness of your Majesty's industrious 
people, together with most of the vices and crimes springing 
from poverty and ignorance, which in a country blessed by 
nature, enriched by art, and boasting of her progress and 
knowledge, mock her humanity and degrade her character. 
. . . These exclusive interests, under the names of Whig and 
Tory, have for many years past succeeded in making Royalty 
a mere puppet of their will. In that name they have plun- 



94 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [94 

dered at home and desolated abroad. . . . But the superstitious 
days of arbitrary dominion and holy errors are fast falling 
azvay; the chief magistrate of an enlightened people must learn 
to know and respect its delegated authority — and must look 
for power and fame to the welfare of the people. . . . We trust 
that your Majesty will not permit either of the factions who 
live on abuses, and profit at the expense of the millions, to 
persuade you to any course of policy other than that of right 
and justice. ... It is not just, that out of a population of 
twenty-five millions of people, only eight hundred thousand 
should have the power of electing what is called the Commons' 
House of Parliament. 

The naive faith of the association in political reform as 
a panacea for all evil can be seen from the address, which 
was sent in 1837 to the American " brethren ", extolling the 
political liberty and institutions enjoyed by the workingmen 
in the United States, and at the same time conveying deep 
surprise at the fact that they had not progressed any further 
after sixty years of freedom : * 

Why are you, to so great an extent, ruled by men who 
speculate on your credulity and thrive by your prejudices? 
Why have lawyers a preponderating influence in your coun- 
try ? . . . Why has so much of your fertile country been par- 
celled out between swindling bankers and grinding capitalists 
who seek to establish (as in our own country) a monopoly in 
that land which nature bestowed in common to all her children ? 
Why have so many of your cities, towns, railroads, canals, and 
manufactories, become the monopolized property of those 
" who toil not, neither do they spin "? — while you, who raised 
them by your labors, are still in the position of begging leave 
to erect others, and to establish for them similar monopolies? 

In the general election of 1837, the most outspoken Liber- 
1 Lovett, op. cit., pp. 130, 131. 



9 e] THE PEOPLE'S CHARTER g$ 

als, S. Crawford, Colonel Thompson and Roebuck, were 
defeated by the united opposition of the Whigs and Tories. 
Far from being discouraged, the London Working Men's 
Association called a meeting of the Committee of Twelve 
which had been appointed to prepare the bill. The com- 
mittee then authorized Roebuck and Lovett to draft the 
document. With the exception of the preamble which was 
written by Roebuck, the bill was prepared by Lovett, after 
having consulted Francis Place as to its form and legal 
technicalities. The original draft contained a provision for 
the suffrage of women. This was discarded as it was feared 
that such demand might retard the suffrage of men. After 
some other changes were made, Lovett 's. Bill was finally 
approved by the Committee of Twelve and then by the 
London Working Men's Association. This bill zuas desig- 
nated the " People's Charter " , x Daniel O'Connell, who be- 
fore long deserted the ranks of the Chartists, virulent in his 
opposition till the day of his death, is credited with exclaim- 
ing, while handing the bill to Lovett, " There, Lovett, is 
your Charter; agitate for it, and never be content with 
anything else." 

The People's Charter was published on the 8th of May, 
1838, and was sent broadcast together with an address, 
which was signed by Henry Hetherington, Treasurer, and 
William Lovett, Secretary, and which contained a popular 
exposition of the principles of the Charter and the plan for 
obtaining it: 

Having frequently stated the reasons for zealously espous- 
ing the great principles of reform, we have now endeavored 
to set them forth. We need not reiterate the facts and un- 
refuted arguments which have so often been stated and urged 
in their support. Suffice it to say, that we hold it to be an 

1 See Appendix B. 



96 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [96 

axiom in politics, that self-government, by representation, is 
the only just foundation of political power — the only true 
basis of constitutional rights — the only legitimate parent of 
good laws; — and we hold it as an indubitable truth that all 
government which is based on any other foundation, has a 
perpetual tendency to degenerate into anarchy or despotism; 
or to beget class and wealth idolatry on the one hand, or 
poverty and misery on the other. 

While, however, we contend for the principle of self-gov- 
ernment, we admit that laws will only be just in proportion as 
the people are enlightened ; on this, socially and politically, the 
happiness of all must depend; but, as self-interest, unaccom- 
panied by virtue, ever seeks its own exclusive benefit, so will 
the exclusive and privileged classes of society ever seek to 
perpetuate their power and to proscribe the enlightenment of 
the people. Hence we are induced to believe that the enlight- 
enment of all will sooner emanate from the exercise of politi- 
cal power by all the people, than by their continuing to trust 
to the selfish government of the few. 

A strong conviction of these truths, coupled as that con- 
viction is with the belief that most of our political and social 
evils can be traced to corrupt and exclusive legislation, and 
that the remedy will be found in extending to the people at 
large the exercise of those rights now monopolized by a few, 
has induced us to make some exertions towards embodying 
our principles in the Charter. 

We are the more inclined to take some practicable step in 
favor of reform, from the frequent disappointments the 
cause has experienced. We have heard eloquent effusions 
in favor of political equality from the hustings, and the senate- 
house, suddenly change into prudent reasonings on property and 
privileges, at the winning smile of the minister. We have seen 
depicted in glowing language bright patriotic promises of the 
future, which have left impressions on us more lasting than 
the perfidy or apostacy of the writers. . . . 

The object we contemplate in the drawing up of this bill is 
to cause the Radicals of the kingdom to form, if possible, a 



97] THE PEOPLE'S CHARTER gy 

concentration of their principles in a practical form, upon 
which they could be brought to unite, and to which they might 
point, as a Charter they are determined to obtain. 

We intend that copies of it shall be forwarded to all the 
Working Men's Associations and to all Reform Associations 
in the kingdom to which we can have access, and we hereby 
call upon them, in the spirit of brotherhood, to examine, sug- 
gest, and improve upon it, until it is so perfected as to meet, as 
far as possible, with general approbation. When it is so far 
improved, and has received their sanction, we intend that it 
shall be presented to Parliament, and we trust that petitions 
will not be wanting to show how far we are united in demand- 
ing its enactment. We hope, also, that electors and non- 
electors will continue to make it the pledge of their candidates ; 
will seek to extend its circulation ; talk over its principles ; and 
resolve that, as public opinion forced the Whig Reform Bill, 
so in like manner shall this bill eventually become the law of 
England 

The publication of the People's Charter gave a fresh im- 
petus to the enthusiasm of the universal suffragists. The 
best talents of the Working Men's Associations and other 
radical societies joined in a gigantic effort to obtain the im- 
mediate enactment of the Charter. The vague and ambigu- 
ous phraseology of the London Working Men's Association 
gave place to a determined expression of class consciousness. 
The general press cautioned against the Chartist missionaries 
who were branded as scoundrels, firebrands, plunderers, 
knaves, and assassins. The people, however, paid little 
heed to these warnings and eagerly demonstrated their 
" general approbation " of the Charter in a series of grand 
meetings and parades. 



CHAPTER VII 
The Leaders 

The years 1838 and 1839 were the most auspicious for 
the Chartist Movement. Instigated by the acute eco- 
nomic distress, the people were in the mood to follow almost 
anybody who could stimulate their indignation to activity. 
The leaders seemed to have realized this and vied with each 
other in their endeavors to gain the confidence of the work- 
ing class. The response of the people, however, was too 
spontaneous, almost volcanic, to allow the establishment of 
any efficient and responsible organization. As in every mass 
movement, many a leader was swept off his feet in the whirl- 
wind of universal protest against the existing regime. In- 
stead of leading, they were made to follow, and, at best, to 
agitate. This for a time saved the ranks of the Chartists 
from complete disruption, although it was an open secret 
that there were " two parties in the Chartist ranks," and, 
what is more, that they had " different objects in view,' 7 
that these two parties were " decidedly hostile to each- 
other," and that no union could ever take place between 
the " honest or determined Chartists and the weak, vacillat- 
ing and scheming Chartists." x 

The most essential difference, which was of prime import- 
ance for the evolutionary period of the movement, lay in the 
mode of agitation. The People's Charter emanated, as we 
have seen, from the London Working Men's Association,. 

1 The London Democrat, April 20, 1839. 
98 [98 



99] THE LEADERS 99 

whose leaders designed a policy of moral force, of education. 
In its first address, the association marked its future task in 
the following terms: 

Who can foretell the great political and social advantages 
that must accrue from the wide extension of societies of this 
description acting up to their principles? Imagine the honest, 
sober and reflecting portion of every town and village in the 
kingdom linked together as a band of brothers, honestly re- 
solved to investigate all subjects connected with their interests, 
and to prepare their minds to combat with the errors and 
enemies of society— setting an example of propriety to their 
neighbors, and enjoying even in poverty a happy home. And 
in proportion as home is made pleasant, by a cheerful and 
intelligent partner, by dutiful children, and by means of com- 
fort, which their knowledge has enabled them to snatch from 
the ale-house, so are the bitters of life sweetened with hap- 
piness. 

Think you a corrupt Government could perpetuate its ex- 
clusive and demoralizing influence amid a people thus united 
and instructed? Could a vicious aristocracy find its servile 
slaves to render homage to idleness and idolatry to the wealth 
too often fraudulently exacted from industry? Could the 
present gambling influence of money perpetuate the slavery of 
the millions, for the gains or dissipation of the few? Could 
corruption sit in the judgment seat— empty-headed import- 
ance in the senate— money-getting hypocrisy in the pulpit— 
and debauchery, fanaticism, poverty, and crime stalk tri- 
umphantly through the land— if the millions were educated in 
a knowledge of their rights ? No, no, friends ; and hence the 
efforts of the exclusive few to keep the people ignorant and 
divided. Be ours the task, then, to unite and instruct them ; 
for be assured the good that is to be must be begun by our- 
selves. 

At the beginning the agitation was preeminently peaceful. 
The London Working Men's Association introduced a sys- 



IO o THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [ IOO 

tem of national and international addresses as a means for 
enlightening the people on all social and political events of 
importance. The addresses were well received by the better 
elements of the working class, but failed to exert so great 
an effect on the masses who felt impatient with the " moral, 
vacillating, scheming humbugs," and preferred " to take 
their affairs in their own hands." It was no surprise, there- 
fore, that the advocates of physical force and insurrection, 
welcomed by the people from the very outset, soon gained 
the upper hand in the movement. Indeed, rampant dis- 
satisfaction was displayed on more than one occasion, and 
some of the leaders went even so far as to withdraw their 
active support. The fatal blight of discord was, however, 
overcome during the first period. The masses were im- 
bued with the hope that the People's Charter would bring 
about complete salvation. The Charter contained, indeed, 
only political reforms, but the people knew from the lead- 
ers that such reforms were the only instrument for the ex- 
termination of all evils. The Chartist speakers, as well as 
the Chartist writers, all agreed that the curse of the country 
lay in " class legislation " : 

It has corrupted the whole government — poisoned the press, 
demoralized society, prostituted the Church, dissipated the re- 
sources of the nation, created monopolies, paralyzed trade, 
ruined half its merchants, produced almost national bank- 
ruptcy, depressed the whole working classes, and pauperized 
most of them. Consequently, the sooner we get rid of such a 
monstrous system, it will be so much the better for all, ex- 
cept for those who either live, or expect to live, by plunder. 1 

The masses believed, they were eager to believe in every- 
thing which held out the promise of relief. They took up 

1 The Chartist Circular, April i8, 1840. 



IOi] THE LEADERS IO i 

the rallying cry, " The Charter, the whole Charter, and 
nothing but the Charter," with a zeal characteristic of the 
common people. This reacted on the leaders and forced 
their personal and theoretical differences to> the background. 
The differences were by no means given up- The leaders 
merely buried their hatchets for a while, with the under- 
standing that they would be picked up again at the oppor- 
tune time after the Charter should have become an accom- 
plished fact. Until then they were willing to let their eco- 
nomic and social creeds take care of themselves. This was 
made clear by Bronterre even as early as 1837. In discuss- 
ing his pet theory of nationalization of land, he cut himself 
short : 

Better, far better it were to sink such questions for the 
present. When all shall have votes, it will be in the power of 
each to make known his sentiments respecting the land, as well 
as respecting everything else, and should a majority think with 
him, his sentiments will become law without cavil or con- 
straint. Till then, our theories, however just, are useless. 1 

The good intentions of the leaders were not realized. 
There were too many points of friction in their mental con- 
stitution as well as in their temperamental make-up. At 
the time of popular excitement, all were carried away by 
the torrent of general indignation, few stopping to soothe 
their personal feelings. It was only after the movement 
had met the strenuous opposition on the part of the govern- 
ment and had become paralyzed, that demoralization set in, 
disrupting the Chartist army into a number of hostile squads. 

The small coterie of leaders, who during the first period 
stamped their personalities on the movement and directed 
the destinies of millions of people, included men of excep- 

1 The National Reformer, Feb. 25, 1837. 



I02 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [ I0 2 

tional character and mentality, who gave themselves like 
martyrs to the cause. 

William Lovett, the author of the People's Charter and 
" the gentlest of agitators," was, according to the descrip- 
tion of Francis Place, a tall, thin and rather melancholy 
man, " soured with the perplexities of the world," but " hon- 
est-hearted, possessed of great courage and persevering in 
his conduct." He was born on the 8th of May, 1800, in 
a little fishing town in the county of Cornwall. His father, 
a captain of a small trading vessel, was drowned before 
William was born. As a boy Lovett received some school- 
ing in a rather suffocating religious atmosphere. 

My poor mother, [he writes of his boyhood], like too many 
serious persons of the present day, thought that the great power 
that has formed the numerous gay, sportive, singing things of 
earth and air, must above all things be gratified with the solemn 
faces, prim clothes, and half sleepy demeanor of human beings ; 
and that true religion consists in listening to the reiterated 
story of man's fall, of God's anger for his doing so, of man's 
sinful nature, of the redemption, and of other questionable 
matters, instead of the wonders and glories of the universe. 1 

In his early youth, he was apprenticed to a rope-maker 
for a term of seven years. His master, however, soon 
gave up his indentures, and Lovett turned to fishing 
and other trades. On the 23rd of June 182 1, he went 
to London where, after some struggles and adventures, 
he became a cabinet-maker. In 1828, he joined the 
" First London Cooperative Trading Association " and soon 
afterwards accepted the position of store-keeper in this asso- 
ciation. He was also a prominent member of the " Brit- 
ish Association for Promoting Cooperative Knowledge." 

1 William Lovett, Life and Struggles, pp. 7-8. 



1 03] THE LEADERS io ^ 

At that time he believed that the gradual accumulation of 
capital, by means of cooperative trading associations, might 
ultimately enable the working classes to get the industries 
and commerce of the country in their own hands. He also 
accepted Robert Owen's doctrine of community of property : 

The idea of all the powers of machinery, of all the arts and 
inventions of men, being applied for the benefit of all in com- 
mon, to the lightening of their toil and the increase of their 
comforts, is one the most captivating to those who accept the 
idea without investigation. The prospect of having spacious 
halls, gardens, libraries, and museums, at their command; of 
having light alternate labor in field or factory ; of seeing their 
children educated, provided and cared for at the public ex- 
pense ; of having no fear or care of poverty themselves ; nor 
for wife, children, or friends they might leave behind them; 
is one the most cheering and consolatory to an enthusiastic 
mind. I was one who accepted this grand idea of machinery 
working for the benefit of all. 1 

•In 1830, he was active in the formation of the " Metropoli- 
tan Political Union," whose object was " to obtain by every 
just, legal, constitutional and peaceful means an effectual 
and radical reform in the Commons' House of Parliament." 
He was also connected with the "unstamped" agitation which 
originated the cheap political newspapers and pamphlets. 
In 183 1, he refused to serve in the militia, as he explained 
it, " on the ground of not being represented in Parliament 
and of not having any voice or vote in the election of those 
persons who made those laws that compelled me to take- 
up arms to protect the rights and property of others, while 
my own rights and the only property I had, my labor, were 
not protected." 2 The same year, he joined "The National 

1 Lovett, op. cit., pp. 43-44. 
3 Ibid., p. 66. 



I04 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [104 

Union of the Working Classes and Others," which declared 
labor the " source of wealth " and aimed at " the protection 
of the working men; the free disposal of the produce of 
labor; and effectual reform of the Commons' House of 
Parliament; the repeal of all bad laws; the enactment of a 
wise and comprehensive code of laws; and to collect and 
organize a peaceful expression of public opinion." This 
association, also known as the Rotundists, was denounced 
by the Tory and Whig press as consisting of " destructives, 
revolutionists, pickpockets, and incendiaries; meditating an 
attack upon every possessor of property, and the uprooting 
of all law and order." The rapid success of the Trades 
Unions in 1834, and especially of the Consolidated National 
Trades Union, led to the dissolution of the National Union 
of the Working Classes. After the trade union movement 
was crushed by the manufacturers and the government, 
Lovett, who enjoyed an enviable reputation among the 
London reformers, succeeded, together with a number of 
other radicals, in the effort to organize the London 
Working Men's Association. He had at that time re- 
nounced some of his ultra-radical ideas and adopted the 
policy of Francis Place, the wire-puller. He was an able 
organizer and, as its secretary, soon became the heart and 
soul of the association. 

As the author of the People's Charter, Lovett undoubt- 
edly exerted an influence on the movement. At no stage, 
however, was he regarded as a popular leader. For that 
he lacked both intellect and pliability. He was an idealist, 
ready to incur peril and obloquy for his principles, but his 
mentality was of a static nature. In all his Chartist career 
he never swerved from the path which the London Work- 
ing Men's Association had laid out in 1836. Utterly in- 
capable of being swayed by sentiment or emotion, he lacked 
completely the instinct and the foresight of a born leader. 



105] THE LEADERS I0 5 

Honest he was, indeed, and courageous, but it was the 
honesty and courage of a fanatic. He scrupled to yield 
to the popular clamor for physical force, but his scruples did 
not spring from the source of moral opulence. Obscured 
by men of greater power of leadership, he was ever full of 
suspicion and when forced to make some compromise, he 
begrudged it all his life. " His fault was," testifies one o<f 
his admirers, " that he had too much suspicion of the 
motives of others not taking his view of things," x He was 
gentle and not spiteful, but he never bowed to anybody, nor 
allowed himself to be treated as a common mortal. His 
errors he attributed to the goodness of his heart and never 
to the weakness of his mind. Such was the make-up of the 
man who was considered by most writers the noblest ex- 
ponent of the Chartist movement. 

Feargus O'Connor was a man of a diametrically opposite 
calibre. Loved and worshipped by millions, hated by many, 
but despised by none, he was a man who could fairly say 
of himself : " It is my boast that neither the living denouncer 
nor the unborn historian can ever write of Chartism, leaving 
out the name of Feargus O'Connor." 2 He was born July 
16,1794, and was the son of Roger O'Connor, who suffered 
imprisonment for his activity in the movement of the 
" United Irishmen." He was always proud of his descent 
which he traced to Roderick O'Connor, the last king of 
Ireland. He attended grammar-school and Trinity College 
at Dublin, but took no degree. 

He was called to the Irish Bar, but lived with his 
brothers on their father's estate, and was, as he says, 
" on the turf in a small way." He appeared on the 

1 George Jacob Holyoake, Sixty Years of an Agitator's Life, London, 
1900, vol. ii, p. 269. 

2 The Laborer, 1847, v °l. i, p. 176. 



106 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [ io 6 

political scene at the age of thirty-seven. A barrister 
by education, an orator of the first rank, and a man 
of athletic physical strength, he was a great prize for 
O'ConneH's party in Ireland. He was elected to Parliament 
in 1833 for the County of Cork. While in Parliament, 
he repudiated the unscrupulous policy of his chief, Daniel 
O'Connell, who, on his part, could not brook anyone who 
was potentially fit to share his power or popularity. O'Con- 
nell frequently yielded to the Whigs with a view of secur- 
ing a chance for his party. O'Connor denounced such tac- 
tics and frequently went out of his way to frustrate the 
plans of the Irish leader. He was re-elected in 1835, but 
was unseated owing to his want of the necessary property 
qualification. It was at that time that an open quarrel took 
place between him and O'Connell, who made " a present of 
him to the English radicals," The latter received him with 
open arms. Coming as he did from a family of famous 
Irish patriots, his name alone would have given great 
prestige to any radical group. But O'Connor possessed, in 
addition, a rich stock of personal qualifications for leader- 
ship. A giant of over six feet in height, with features 
which revealed great intellectual vigor, of aristocratic man- 
ner and deportment, his whole countenance was such as to 
strike awe into the masses. He was a man of unbounded 
energy and, after he was unseated in 1835, he selected the 
manufacturing districts for his agitation against the New 
Poor Law and the Factory System. On his tour he 
founded many political unions which ultimately associated 
themselves with the Chartists. It was on account of that 
tour that Francis Place characterized him as the traveling 
leader of the Democratic Movement. In 1836 he founded 
the Central Committee of radical unions. In 1837 he was 
wrought up by the invitation which the London Working 
Men's Association had extended to Daniel O'Connell as one 



I0 7] THE LEADERS 107 

of the radical Parliamentary members, 1 and he denounced 
the association for its alleged readiness to leave the interests 
of the workingmen in the hands of the middle class. On 
November 18, 1837, he founded the most radical Chartist 
weekly, the Northern Star, whose circulation soon reached 
sixty thousand. This unusual circulation testifies to the 
great popularity which O'Connor enjoyed among the masses. 
He was literally worshipped by his followers and many 
" would have gone through fire and water for him." 

There was much that was attractive in him when I first knew 
him [writes one of the Chartists]. His fine manly form and 
his powerful baritone voice gave him great advantage as a 
popular leader. His conversation was rich in Irish humor, 
and often evinced a shrewd knowledge of character. The fact 
of his having been in the House of Commons, and among the 
upper classes, also lent him influence. I do not think half a 
dozen Chartists cared a fig about his boasted descent from 
" Roderick O'Connor, the king of Connaught, and last king 
of all Ireland " ; but the connection of his family with the 
United Irishmen and patriotic sufferers of the last century, 
rendered him a natural representative of the cause of political 
liberty. 2 

In his career as a Chartist, O'Connor displayed qualities 
which, in the eyes of many contemporaries and historians, 
branded him as a demagogue, a despot, a political denouncer, 
a man who was looking solely for self-aggrandizement and 
for personal interests. Lovett, who could hardly tolerate 
the presence of O'Connor, once said to him, " You are the 
great ' I am ' of politics." Bronterre nicknamed him 
" the dictator " ; Roebuck called him " a cowardly and 
malignant demagogue," " a rogue and a liar " ; Place said 

1 Cf. supra, p. go. 

1 The Life of Thomas Cooper, written by himself, London, 1897, p. 
179. 



io 8 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [ io 8 

of him that he would use every means he could to lead and 
mislead the working people. Historians, too 1 , characterize 
him as an empty braggart and a typical demagogue. This 
is as one-sided as it is unjust. It was as natural for him 
to " dictate ", as it was for others to follow. It was his 
great personality that impressed itself on others. But he 
was as large-hearted as any man could be. He was, as he 
himself testified, "of an enthusiastic and excitable disposi- 
tion." * At the same time he was the " most impetuous and 
most patient of all the tribunes who ever led the English 
Chartists." 2 A born leader, he possessed great power of 
reading the minds of the people and of designing his plans of 
action according to conditions and circumstances. This 
often made him yield to popular clamor; but this is the lot 
of every great leader who can feel the pulse of the masses. 
He was vain and lacked modesty when speaking of himself ; 
but he was in no less a degree ready to exaggerate the 
greatness of others. He could with a sense of self-detach- 
ment say of himself that he " led the people from madness 
to sanity," as he could speak of Bronterre's " gigantic tal- 
ents." Holyoake acknowledges O'Connor's "great strength 
of indifference to what any one of his rivals said against 
him in his own columns of the Star." 3 He had a deep 
passion for freedom and, on more than one occasion and in 
various forms of self-sacrifice, he proved his genuine de- 
votion to the cause. He was called the Lion of Freedom, 
and the name was well merited. 

During the first period of the Chartist agitation, O'Connor 
cherished no special theories of his own. His Land Plan 
came at a later stage. But even as early as 1835, he gave 
notice of his intention to move in Parliament for leave to 
bring in a bill 

1 See English Chartist Circular, vol. i, no. 36. 

2 See Holyoake, op. cit., vol. i, p. 106. 3 Ibid., p. 107. 



109] THE LEADERS 109 

to compel landlords to make leases of their land in perpetuity — 
that is, to give to the tenant a lease for ever, at a corn rent; 
to take away the power of distraining for rent; and in all 
cases where land was held upon lease and was too dear, that the 
tenant in such cases should have the power of empaneling a 
jury to assess the real value in the same manner as the crown 
has the power of making an individual sell property required 
for what is called public works or conveniences according to 
the valuation of a jury. 1 

He believed that " the law of primogeniture is the eld- 
est son of class legislation upon corruption by idleness." 2 
But unlike most of his Chartist colleagues, he was a strenu- 
ous opponent of the current Socialist theories. 

I have ever been, and I think I ever shall be opposed to the 
principles of communism, as advocated by several theorists. 
I am, nevertheless, a strong advocate of co-operation, which 
means legitimate exchange, and which circumstances would 
compel individuals to adopt, to the extent that communism 
would be beneficial. I have generally found that the strongest 
advocates of communism are the most lazy members of so- 
ciety, — a class who would make a division of labor, adjudging 
to the most pliant and submissive the lion's share of work, 
and contending that their natural implement was the brain, 
whilst that of the credulous was the spade, the plough, the 
sledge and the pickaxe. Communism either destroys whole- 
some emulation and competition, or else it fixes too high a 
price upon distinction, and must eventually end in the worst 
description of despotism . . . whilst, upon the other hand, in- 
dividual possession and cooperation of labor creates a whole- 
some bond between all classes of society. 3 

1 The English Chartist Circular, vol. ii, no. 67. 

2 See Feargus O'Connor, The Remedy for National Poverty Impend- 
ing National Ruin, 1841. 

3 The Laborer, 1847, vol. i, p. 149. 



IIO THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [no 

As land was, in his opinion, the only source of all wealth 
so was the unrestricted use of machinery the only source of 
all social evil : x 

It opens a fictitious, unsettled, and unwholesome market for 
labor, leaving to the employer complete and entire control over 
wages and employment. As machinery becomes improved, 
manual labor is dispensed with, and the dismissed constitute 
a surplus population of unemployed, system-made paupers, 
which makes a reserve for the masters to fall back upon, as a 
means of reducing the price of labor. It makes character 
valueless. By the application of fictitious money, it overruns 
the world with produce, and makes labor a drug. It entices 
the agricultural laborer, under false pretences, from the na- 
tural and wholesome market, and locates him in an unhealthy 
atmosphere, where human beings herd together like swine. It 
destroys the value of real capital in the market, and is capable 
of affecting every trade, business, and interest, though appar- 
ently wholly unconnected with its ramifications. It creates a 
class of tyrants and a class of slaves. Its vast connection with 
banks, and all the moneyed interests of the country, gives to 
it an unjust, injurious, anomalous, and direct influence over 
the government of the country. 

It was not, however, to the strength of his theories that 
O'Connor looked for recognition. It was his harangues 
against the New Poor Law and the Factory System that 
electrified the masses. Coming as he did in direct contact 
with the masses and witnessing their distress in all parts of 
the country, he was from the beginning of the Chartist 
movement inclined toward a revolutionary policy. To 
counterbalance the influence of the London Working Men's 
Association which, according to O'Connor, consisted of 
skilled mechanics, he founded in 1837 the London Demo- 

1 The English Chartist Circular, no. 62. 



m] THE LEADERS HI 

cratic Association, appealing to the " unshaven chins, blis- 
tered hands, and fustian jackets " for membership. The 
objects, besides universal suffrage, included the agitation 
for liberty of the press, the repeal of the Poor Law, an 
eight-hour labor day, and the prohibition of child labor. 
This association eventually became the mouthpiece of the 
physical force Chartists, disseminating the spirit of revolt 
all over the country. " In the Democratic Association ", 
it was subsequently stated in its official organ, " the Jacobin 
Club again lives and flourishes, and the villainous tyrants 
shall find to their cost, that England too has her Marats, 
St. Justs, and Robespierres "- 1 O'Connor, however, never 
identified himself with the extreme wing of the terrorists 
and once he even repudiated the latter in his characteristic 
vein. 2 

I have always been a man of peace. I have always denounced 
the man who strove to tamper with an oppressed people by any 
appeal to physical force. I have always said that moral force 
was the degree of deliberation in each man's mind which told 
him when submission was a duty or resistance not a crime ; and 
that a true application of moral force would effect every 
change, but that in case it should fail, physical force would 
come to its aid like an electric shock — and no man could prevent 
it; but that he who advised or attempted to marshal it would 
be the first to desert it at the moment of danger. God forbid 
that I should wish to see my country plunged into the horrors 
of physical revolution. I wish her to win her liberties by peace- 
ful means alone. 

His apprehension of a " physical revolution " did not, 
nevertheless, in the least mitigate his contempt for those 
who counseled inactivity and "education". He fully realized 

1 The London Democrat, no. 2, 1839. 

2 The Nonconformist, June 8, 1842. 



II2 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [n 2 

that there were two parties to the bargain ; that, besides the 
poor fellow, there was also the rich man who was reluctant 
to be " educated " in detriment to his personal interests. 
In his speeches, as well as in his " Star," he repeatedly up- 
braided the people for having borne oppression too long 
and too tamely, reminding them that " it is better to die 
free men than to live slaves." Professing his faith in the 
moral power of the working class to establish the rights of 
the poor man, he used his intrepid eloquence and sallies of 
wit to bring the masses to the very pit of revolution. 

James Bronterre O'Brien, widely known as Bronterre, 
was born in 1805 and was the son of a wine merchant and 
tobacco manufacturer. In childhood he displayed extra- 
ordinary abilities and, at the age of ten, he knew Latin, 
Greek, French and Italian, besides his native language. In 
the private school which was conducted by Lowell Edge- 
worth, a brother of the writer, on the monitor system, he 
showed remarkable proficiency in mathematics and a fine 
appreciation of literature and poetry. Walter Scott, who 
had heard of the boy-prodigy, went to see him in school 
and was filled with admiration. He also* distinguished him- 
self in Trinity College at Dublin, where he received the de- 
gree of Bachelor of Arts, and at Gray's Inn in London 
where he was qualifying himself for the bar. He was 
twenty-five years of age when he was introduced by " Ora- 
tor " Henry Hunt to the radicals of London as a young 
gentleman of great abilities, whose sympathies were entirely 
with the people. In the account which he gave of himself 
in the first number of his " National Reformer," January 
7, 1837, he says: 

About eight years ago, I came to London to study law and 
radical reform. My friends sent me to study law; I took 
to radical reform on my own account. I was a very short 



113] THE LEADERS II3 

time engaged in both studies, when I found the law was all 
fiction and rascality, and that radical reform was all truth and 
matter of dire necessity. Having a natural love of truth, and 
as natural a hatred of falsehood, I soon got sick of law, and 
gave all my soul to radical reform. The consequence is, that 
while I have made no progress at all in law, I have made 
immense progress in radical reform, so much so, that were a 
professorship of radical reform to be instituted in King's 
College, I think I would stand candidate for the office. At all 
events, I feel as though every drop of blood in my veins was 
radical blood, and as if the very food I swallow undergoes, at 
the moment of deglutition, a process of radicalization. 

He started his literary career in 1830, over the signature 
of Bronterre, in Carpenter's Political Pamphlets. His 
articles soon attracted the attention of the radicals, and, 
at the age of twenty-six, he became the chief editor of the 
Poor Man's Guardian. He was a prolific writer and 
during the thirties was an important contributor or editor 
of many magazines, including the Midland Representative, 
People's Conservative, Carpenter's Political Pamphlets and 
Political Herald, Poor Man's Guardian, The Destructive, 
Twopenny Despatch, London Mercury, National Reformer, 
The Operative, Southern Star, Northern Star, and others. 
In 1836 he translated Buonarroti's History of Babeufs Con- 
spiracy for Equality, and, after his visit to Paris, published, 
in 1837, The Life of Robespierre, in which, in defiance of 
all prejudice, he depicted the great revolutionist as one of 
the noblest and most enlightened reformers that the world 
ever had. He remained all his life a great admirer of 
Robespierre and Babeuf. 

The talents of Bronterre were greatly exaggerated by 
many of his followers, who ranked him as a genius, but they 
were great enough to put him head and shoulders above 
the average leader of workingmen. The title of " School 



II 4 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [ II + 

Master" bestowed on him for his learning by O'Connor was 
fully merited. As a leader, he combined many happy char- 
acteristics. He was a dreamer and full of temperament. 
less erratic than O'Connor and more pliant than Lovett. 
Tall, somewhat stooping, with a fine intellectual cast of 
head and features, forcible with his tongue not less than 
with his pen, he exerted a great influence on the masses as 
well as on the leaders. The goal which he set out to achieve 
was " social equality for each and all." But in order to 
obtain social equality, the people had first to get political 
equality. Political supremacy was the foundation of the 
whole economic structure. Social theories were, therefore, 
" useless " until the Charter became the law of the land. 
At the beginning of his radical career he referred to the 
Houses of Parliament in the following terms : x 

They might abolish or remodel every institution in Church 
and State ; they might change the whole system of commerce ; 
they might substitute the labor note for the present vicious 
currency and thus render usury impossible; they might agree 
to work in common, and to enjoy in common; or they might 
arrange to exchange their produce on equitable terms, through 
salaried agents, without the intervention of base middlemen 
who are the bane of society. By these and the like means they 
might silently, but effectually, regenerate the world. 

This view was elaborated by Bronterre in his writings 
during the Chartist agitation. The acquisition of universal 
suffrage was, therefore, imperative in order that the work- 
ing class may reconstruct the whole basis of society. This 
became his idee fixe : 

Without the franchise you can have nothing but what others 
choose to give you, and those who give to-day, may choose to 

1 The Poor Man's Guardian, March I, 1834. 



H 5 ] THE LEADERS 115 

take away to-morrow. Every industrious man who produces 
more (in value) of the goods of life than he needs for his 
own or his family's use, ought to own the difference as prop- 
erty. You are almost all in that condition, for there are few 
of you who do not yield more value to society every day than 
society gives you back in return. Why are you not masters of 
the difference? Why is it not your property? Because cer- 
tain laws and institutions, which other people make, take it 
away from you, and give it to the law-makers. But if you 
were represented as well as they, you would have quite other 
laws and institutions, which would give the wealth to those 
who earned it. 1 

Bronterre was an ardent advocate of nationalization of 
land. In 1837 he advanced the basic points which he sub- 
sequently developed into a theory of his own : 

1. The absolute dominion, or allodial right to the soil, belongs 
to the nation only. 

2. The nation alone has the just power of leasing out the 
land for cultivation, and of appropriating the rents accruing 
therefrom. 

3. The size of farms, or the portion of soil to be allotted to 
individuals or families; also the proportions to be devoted to 
tillage, pasturage, etc. — also the several other powers now pos- 
sessed by individual owners, and exercised by them in the 
granting of leases, etc. — all these are matters which it also 
belongs to the nation alone to determine in virtue of its rights 
as absolute landlord of all. 

4. Upon this theory every subject of the realm is a part 
proprietor of the soil. The land being leased out by public 
auction, whoever bids highest for a lot should get it, because 
the nation would thereby be the gainer, and as population in- 
creased, and the land became in consequence more valuable, 
rents would increase also, and people's inheritance be made 
greater. 2 

1 Bronterre's National Reformer, January 15, 1837. 
" Ibid., Feb. 25, 1837. 



1 1 6 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [ j : 6 

His hostility towards the middle class, the " money- 
monster ", did not entirely blind him to the advantages of 
machinery. Nor did he believe with O'Connor that land 
was the only source of all wealth : 

The system I combat, and which I wish you to combat, is 
that by which your profit-mongering oppressors have turned 
you from agriculturists into manufacturers for all the world. 
Now, I am not against manufactures, nor against the fine arts, 
nor against even the largest possible extension and application 
of both to the purpose of human economy, but I am against 
the system which would first make these paramount to agricul- 
ture, and then bestow all the advantages of both on an upstart 
moneyed aristocracy, who, in drawing you from off the land, 
have made you more abject slaves to their cupidity, than your 
forefathers ever were to the feudal barons of the Middle Ages. 
Agriculture is the most profitable of all pursuits, to a nation 
considered aggregately ; even now, when scarcely any machin- 
ery is applied to husbandry, it is a well known fact that one 
laborer produces food for four persons. How much more he 
might produce, I leave any one to infer, who has ever seen 
the rich garden grounds about Chelsea, Fulham, Kensington, 
and Hammersmith. Is it not monstrous, then, that with this 
power of production, and with sixty millions of acres of land 
in Great Britain and Ireland, of which not ten millions are 
unsusceptible of cultivation, we should see thousands of arti- 
sans in our great towns, either wholly destitute of employ- 
ment, or eking out a miserable existence on starving wages, and 
subject to all the brutalizing privations of health, air, and hap- 
piness, to which their dependence on the profit-monger and 
his foreign markets hourly subjects them? ... It is not gold 
and silver, nor yet bank notes, as the paper-money schemers 
would have us believe, that have given the prodigious impulse 
we have witnessed, to improvements in America. It is the 
abundance of food produced by its agricultural population, 
that enables so great a number to be employed in constructing 



liy-\ THE LEADERS 1 1 7 

canals, bridges, railroads, etc. The surplus of agricultural 
produce is the real capital which sets the artisans and handi- 
craftsmen to work, and covers the States with those embellish- 
ments and stupendous works of art which astound the Euro- 
pean traveler. 1 

It was observations like the above that led him to con- 
clude that land could never be a " legitimate subject of 
property ", and that had it not been for individual owner- 
ship of land, " we should have escaped ninety-nine hun- 
dredths o'f all the woes and crimes that have hitherto made 
a pandemonium of the world." 2 He put land in a class by 
itself. All other property could be held by individuals in 
perfect compatibility with public happiness and social justice. 

If all men are placed equal before the law — if the means of 
acquiring and retaining wealth are equally secured to all in 
proportion to the respective industry and services of each, I 
see no objection to private property. Every man has a right 
to the value of his own produce or services, be they more or 
less. If one man can and will do twice the work of another 
man, he ought certainly in justice to have twice the reward. 
But if his superior strength or skill gives him the means of 
acquiring more wealth than his neighbor, it by no means fol- 
lows that he ought, therefore, to acquire a right or power 
over his neighbor's produce as well as his own. And here 
lies the grand evil of society — it is not in private property, but 
in the unjust and atrocious powers with which the existing 
laws of all countries invest it. If a man has fairly earned a 
hundred or a thousand pound's worth of wealth beyond what 
he has consumed or spent, he 'has a sacred right to the ex- 
clusive use of it, if he thinks proper; but he has no right 
to use that wealth in such a way as to make it a sort of 
sucking pump, or thumb-screw for sucking and screwing other 

^ronterre's National Reformer, January 7, 1837. 
2 The Operative, vol. i, no. 4, 1838. 



1 1 8 THE CHARTIST MO VEMENT [ 1 1 8 

people's produce into his possession. Sir John Cam Hobhouse, 
for example, . . . has no just right to employ his money in 
usury or speculation. His money should not be allowed to 
grow money as cabbage grows cabbage, or weeds grow weeds. 
To employ money in that way is not to use the right of prop- 
erty, but to practice robbery. . . . He takes advantage of his 
' capital,' and the poverty that surrounds him. He says to 
the hungry man, Come and labor for me, create fresh wealth 
for me, and you shall have a small share of your produce to 
keep you alive. . . . The laborer can stand anything before 
hunger. Hence, Sir John grows richer and richer every day, 
without earning any riches at all, while he who produces the 
riches grows poorer and poorer, as age diminishes his strength, 
till at last he dies in poverty and in the workhouse. . . . The 
employers of labor and the exchangers of wealth are alone 
considered in the laws. The producers and active distributors 
are only thought of as slaves or criminals. Enormous fleets 
and armies are kept up to protect the merchant's gains. Enor- 
mous gaols and penitentiaries are kept up for the poor. Thus 
are the laborers forced to pay, not only for the protection of 
those who plunder them, but for the very instruments of their 
own torture and misery. Buonarroti considers all these results 
inseparable from private property. So did Babeuf — so did 
thousands of the French Democrats of 1793 — so do Robert 
Owen and his disciples of the present day. I think differ- 
ently. I will never admit that private property is incom- 
patible with public happiness, till I see it fairly tried. I never 
found an objection urged against it, which I can not trace 
to the abuse, not to the use of the institution. ... I assert that 
such [enlightened] government would place commerce and 
manufactures upon a totally different footing from the present, 
and make the land the common property of all the inhabitants, 
and that, without any real or material injury to the existing 
proprietors. I hold, and I am sure I can prove, that such a 
dispensation of things is within the power of an enlightened 
legislature, fairly representing all classes. 1 

1 The English Chartist Circular, vol. i, no. 18. 



II9 ] THE LEADERS IIO/ 

Radical and talented as Bronterre was, his strong pre- 
dilections for the views of Robespierre and Babeuf entirely 
blurred his vision of the evolutionary laws of society. In 
the preface to his translation of Buonarroti's History of 
Babeuf s Conspiracy for Equality, he cites, among others, 
the following reasons for rendering the work into 1 English. 

Because Buonarroti's book contains one of the best exposi- 
tions I have seen of those great political and social principles 
which I have so long advocated in the Poor Man's Guardian 
and other publications. . . . Society has been hitherto con- 
stituted upon no fixed principles. The state in which we find 
it is the blind result of chance. Even its advocates do not 
claim for it any other origin. The right of the strongest — 
the only right acknowledged by savage man — appears to be 

still the fundamental charter of all " civilized " states 

What the savage or uncivilized man does individually and 
directly by the exercise of mere personal prowess, the civilized 
man (so called) does collectively and circuitously by cunningly- 
designed institutions. The effects of these institutions are 
well depicted by Buonarroti. He shows, with admirable abil- 
ity, how, in trying to escape the evils of savage life, man has 
unconsciously plunged into another state far more calamitous 
— to wit, the present artificial state, which he terms that of 
" false civilization." He shows, that to correct the evils of 
this latter state, without at the same time retrograding to the 
former, was the grand problem sought to be resolved by the 
first French Revolution, and, in discussing the principles and 
institutions deemed necessary to that end by the leaders of 
the Revolution, I was so forcibly struck by the coincidence 
of Buonarroti's ideas with my own, that I immediately re- 
solved to translate the book. 

The omnipotence which he attributed to political rights 
precluded his correct appreciation of the economic forces 
of society. The rise of the middle class forced his recog- 
nition, but he ascribed it to the political importance of that 



I2 o THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [120 

class, which in his mind was merely " the blind result of 
chance," and he sought to crush the " money-monster " with 
its own weapon — political power. In this respect he was in 
full accord with Lovett and his friends of the London Work- 
ing Men's Association, never tiring of agitating for uni- 
versal suffrage as the only remedy for social maladies. 
The economic role of the working class as a factor in social 
evolution he neither recognized nor understood. 

Thomas Attwood was a valuable accession to the Chartist 
leaders on account of his previous association with the 
Birmingham Political Union. He was a Birmingham 
banker, and his interest in currency reform led him into ac- 
tive politics. At the beginning of his political career, he 
looked with contempt upon the "poor wretches," the radicals, 
who " clamor for Burdett and liberty meaning blood and 
anarchy." After the defeat of his currency measures in 
Parliament, he proclaimed himself a radical reformer, and 
in December, 1829, together with fourteen others, he 
founded the " Birmingham Political Union for the Pro- 
tection of Public Rights " and rendered yeoman's service 
in the agitation for the Reform Bill of 1832. He was ex- 
tremely popular among all classes, and, as a politician, he 
adopted a somewhat modern method of gaining support by 
kissing the children and very often bestowing this token of 
recognition upon the mothers of the children. At one elec- 
tion he was credited to have kissed about eight thousand 
women. Among the Chartists, he belonged to the moral- 
force group. 

As the leader of the Birmingham Currency School, he 
attributed every trouble which befell England to the re- 
sumption of specie-payment in 18 19 and advocated the in- 
flation of the currency by means of paper money, whose 
standard should be regulated in accordance with fluctuating 



121] THE LEADERS I2I 

prices. His pamphlets on monetary questions made him 
widely known, although he met with little sympathy in Par- 
liamentary circles as well as among the radicals. Disraeli 
described him as a provincial banker laboring under a 
financial monomania. Cobbett accused him of desiring to 
keep up " an army deadweight, sinecures, places and pen- 
sions, the Stock Exchange in full swing and the infamous 
borough-mongers in the height of prosperity." O'Connor 
used to call his financial schemes " rag-botheration." An 
official declaration of the Chartists referred to the " cor- 
rupting influence of paper money " as the most " oppressive 
measure," by which the workingmen were " enslaved V 
Attwood, however, never tired of his agitation in favor of 
paper currency and worked the hardest for the People's 
Charter, harboring the belief that an ideal monetary reform 
would be enacted by a democratic Parliament. 

Henry Hetherington was another man whose great popu- 
larity lent considerable support to the moral-force group 
of Chartists. He was not an orator of any force or elo- 
quence, but enjoyed an enviable reputation as the champion 
and martyr of the battle for an unstamped press. Prisons 
had no terrors for him, and for a period of five years 2 
he published the Poor Man's Guardian in open "defiance of 
law to try the power of right against might" In 1836 his 
Twopenny Despatch took the lead in the courageous strug- 
gle for a free and popular press. After the formation of 
the London Working Men's Association he was one of the 
missionaries who were sent out to organize similar bodies 
all over the country. As a Chartist he professed intimate 
sympathy with the principles and policies of his friend 
Lovett. 

iSee Hansard, vol. xlix, 1839, p. 242; cf. also Bronterre's view 
supra, p. 116. 

2 Dec. 25, 1830, to Dec. 20, 1835. 



CHAPTER VIII 

I am here to blow to the uttermost 
ends of the earth that lie — the impious 
and blasphemous lie of the hirelings — 
that you are bound to obey laws with- 
out knowing what they are. . . . Noth- 
ing can be more wicked or diabolical 
than that. Before you obey a law, you 
must know whether it is good or bad. 
— Rev. J. R. Stephens. 

The Gospel of Revolt 

William Lovett was the apostle of Moral Force. He 
had unbounded faith in the moral propensities of mankind. 
Since ignorance alone was at the root of all oppression, it 
was necessary only to awaken the dormant faculties of mind 
in order to assure the blissful regeneration of society. It 
was natural, then, that he should inspire the London Work- 
ing Men's Association not to " rely on the mere excitation 
of the multitude to condemn bad men or measures, or to 
change one despot for another." No force other than moral 
suasion, backed by political and social education, would 
enable the people " to found their institutions on principles 
of equality, truth, and justice." x 

O'Connor and Bronterre made no religion of Moral 
Force. They advocated "Peace and Order" not as a maxim, 
but as a policy. When the temper of the people dic- 
tated a different policy, they did not contradict it, — they 

1 See "Address to the Working Classes of Europe, and especially to 
the Polish People," in Life and Struggles of William Lovett, pp. 150- 
158. 

122 [122 



123] THE G0SPEL OF REVOLT I2 , 

did not even apologize, — they simply yielded to the in- 
evitable. Physical Force as a philosophy and Revolt as an 
apotheosis of justice were broached by a different set of 
men who exerted a dominant influence on the masses during 
the first period of the movement. 

Joseph Ray nor Stephens, the apostle of revolt and the 
only Chartist who at one time vied with O'Connor in popu- 
larity, was born on the 18th of March, 1805, at Edinburgh, 
where his father was a Methodist preacher. He made the 
best of his elementary education when yet quite young. 
After teaching school for two years, he became a Methodist 
preacher in 1825, and the following year was appointed to 
a mission station at Stockholm, Sweden. In 1829 he was 
ordained as a Wesleyan minister and in 1830 was stationed 
at Cheltenham. His Wesleyan career ended in 1834, when 
he was dismissed for his association with Richard Oastler 
in the agitation for the improvement of the condition of 
factory laborers. The dismissal from the ministry raised 
him in the estimation of the working men. But it was his 
subsequent scathing attacks on the New Poor Law that 
endeared him to the masses who before long erected for 
him three chapels in the Ashton district. Besides his regu- 
lar sermons in the chapels, he made use of the public market 
to harangue big crowds and to teach them not to " care for 
an Act of Parliament ", as it was only " waste paper ", 
" treason ", and " blasphemy ", unless it tended to promote 
happiness among men. He was never shy in the choice of 
his epithets against the ruling classes, and it was for this 
that Francis Place characterized him as a " malignant, 
crazy man who never seemed exhausted with bawling 
atrocious matter." 

Stephens did not consider himself a radical, but, as " a 
revolutionist by fire, a revolutionist by blood, to the knife, 



124 THE CHAR TIST MOVEMENT [124 

to the death," be joined the ranks of the Chartists, pro- 
claiming the question of universal suffrage to be, after all, 
" a knife and fork question." x He was recognized as the 
greatest Chartist orator. A master on the platform, he pos- 
sessed personal magnetism, felicity of expression and a 
singular style of oratory which, at his best, made him 
irresistible. Vehement inflammatory declamations inter- 
woven with passages of classical beauty; rugged expressions 
of protest mingled with sentiments of love and devotion; 
scenes of revolting despondency redeemed by prophetic pro- 
mises of a happy life; curses sputtered in a voice that could 
be distinctly heard by twenty thousand persons in the open 
air soothed by intonations of musical cadence; stories of 
every-day life, so near and familiar, followed by strange 
but exalted citations from the Bible, — all this rendered his 
spell the more dominant because of the spectacular effect 
produced by the black robe of a minister of the gospel. His 
sermons were partly religious and partly political, but in 
all he exposed the crying injustice of the economic system. 
His pictures of women bleeding to death from overwork an 
factories, of children in mortal terror of the workhouse, of 
old men and old women dying from starvation, produced 
a lurid effect on the minds of his hearers and made them the 
more susceptible to his subtle allusions to force. He made 
extensive use of the gospel to popularize his philosophy of 
social justice. He preached class consciousness and or- 
ganization as he preached religion. He urged insurrection 
as he extolled the names of the Prophets. He inspired 
courage in emulation of Christ : 

Oh, my brethren, look neither to this man nor to that man, but 
pray to God Almighty to raise up among you prophets like 
unto Moses and Joshua and Hezekiah and Ezekiel and Mala- 

1 See Annual Register, vol. lxxx, 1839, P- 3 11 - 



125] THE GOSPEL OF REVOLT I2 $ 

chi, and Amos and Jonah; pray to God to raise up apostles 
like Peter and Paul and John ; pray God to raise up men filled 
with his favor; men whose hearts are filled with love to their 
brethren; pray God to send such men out, with their lives in 
their hands, to launch his thunderbolts at the head of the op- 
pressor, and to shed his blessing upon the heads of those who 
in obedience, reverential, child-like obedience, love to follow 
in the way of his commandments. 

You will never have freedom or happiness in England ; this 
land will never be worth living in — it is not worth living in 
now, if it were not for the hope in God that it may be better ; 
if there be a hell upon earth comparatively with other nations 
of the world, it is England; if the devil has any seat of au- 
thority — any kingdom where he rules more infernally than in 
any other part of the world, it is England at this moment. 
Look where you will ; cast your eyes abroad from the political 
head to the political foot, there is no soundness in us ; there is 
nothing " but wounds and bruises, and putrifying sores," and 
the only balm of Gilead, the only good physician is yonder 
Good Physician — he who laid down his life for the world. 
Pray, then, for the spirit of God to be poured out ; pray for the 
spirit of God to come down ; pray for the spirit of determined 
and decided men once more to be imparted . . . ; pray that 
God would fill you with his truth, that he would raise you up 
and carry you far beyond the fear of man; and when your 
own soul is let loose, when your own mind is free, when your 
own heart is big and swollen, and entirely filled with the fear 
of God, you will never be afraid of what men can say or do 
unto you. You will say, " He that is for me, is greater than 
all that are against me " ; and you will go on in the name, and 
in the strength of God, and you will be a Christian Reformer. 
We want in England Christian Reformers. 1 

Resistance to bad laws is, according to Stephens, as 

1 A Sermon Preached at Hyde, in Lancashire, on the 17th of Feb- 
ruary, 1839. 



126 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [ I2 6 

exalted a virtue as is obedience to good laws. Allegiance 
per se is not an end; if the law affords no protection, it 
must be disobeyed. His appeal for rebellion was direct : 

Are the Spitalfields weavers protected, when not one in a hun- 
dred of them, after working twelve hours a day, can earn 12s. 
a week? Are the handloom weavers of the north protected, 
when they cannot, with all their toil, earn more than 7s. a week ? 
I have known girls eight years of age working at the anvil, mak- 
ing nails from six in the morning until eight or nine at night, 
and on Friday all night long, and, after all, could not earn 
more than is. 6d. per week. The mother worked equal time, 
and whilst she was at work, one of her children was burnt 
almost to a cinder, and she could only earn 3s. a week, whilst 
the grandmother could get no more than is. 6d. Do those 
poor creatures owe allegiance to the laws? Are they pro- 
tected? Do the poor wretches of the factories — the carders, 
the piecers, the scavengers, dressers, weavers, and spinners 
— do they owe allegiance to the laws? Does the agricultural 
laborer, who can only earn 8s. a week, owe submission to the 
laws? The law, in establishing oppression, makes the op- 
pressed its deadly enemy. 1 

Stephens dwelt little on the political aspects of the Char- 
ter. He aimed chiefly to impress the masses with the 
realization of the iniquitous economic and social system. 
" You see yonder factory with its towering chimney. Every 
brick in that factory is cemented with the blood of women 
and little children ", — he said on one occasion. He always 
warned his hearers against passiveness. On January 1, 
1838, referring to the New Poor Law, he admonished a 
Newcastle audience that " sooner than wife and husband, 
and father and son, should be sundered and dungeoned, and 

1 A Sermon Preached in Shepherd and Shepherdess Fields, London, 
on Sunday, May 12, 1839. 



12 y] THE GOSPEL OF REVOLT I2 y 

fed on ' skillee ', — sooner than wife or daughter should 
wear the prison dress — sooner than that — Newcastle ought 
to be, and should be — one blaze of fire, with only one way 
to put it out, and that with the blood of all who supported 
this abominable measure." He recurred to this theme in 
most of his sermons, and once he declared tersely : 

I have never acknowledged the authority of the New Poor Law, 
and so help me God I never will. I never paid my rates under 
it, and so help me God I never will — they may take every chair, 
every table and every bed I have — they may pull my house 
over my head, and send me and my wife and my child wander- 
ers on the heaths and the hills — they may take all but my wife, 
my child, and my life, but pay one penny I never will. If 
they dare attempt to take them, and it becomes necessary to 
repel force by force, there will be a knife, a pike, or a bullet 
at hand, and if I am to fall, I will at least sell life for life. 
I exhort you and all others to do the same. I do not mean 
to flinch. I will recommend nothing which I will not do. I 
tell you that if they attempt to carry into effect this damnable 
law, I mean to fight. I will lay aside the black coat for the 
red, and with the Bible in one hand and a sword in the other — 
a sword of steel, not of argument — I will fight to the death 
sooner than that law shall be brought into operation on me 

or on others with my consent or through my silence 

Perish trade and manufacture — perish arts, literature and 
science — perish palace, throne and altar — if they can only stand 
upon the dissolution of the marriage tie — the annihilation of 
every domestic affection, and the vilest and most brutal oppres- 
sion ever yet practiced upon the poor of any country in the 
world. 1 

The most salient feature in his sermons, besides their 
inciting character, was the subjection of politics to eco- 

1 A Sermon Preached at Primrose Hill, London, on Sunday, May 12, 
1839. 



128 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [ I2 8 

nomic ends. Contrary to well-nigh all Chartists, he never 
made universal suffrage synonymous with universal happi- 
ness. He believed that every man without a home, or whose 
home was " not all that God meant it to be," was robbed 
and had, therefore, " a just cause for quarrel with society." * 
He gave his allegiance to the People's Charter in so far as it 
aimed to assure a happy home for every man " that breathed 
God's free air or trod God's free earth." But at the same 
time he realized, and endeavored to make the people realize 
that the Charter would be of no avail without a strong, 
organized, revolutionary movement for the purpose of ef- 
fecting a complete change in the economic system: 

There has already been too much of what is called political 
reform, the juggling of the places from one to another, the 
passing of the pea from one eup to another cup to amuse and 
to deceive, and ultimately to destroy the people; and every 
step you take is a step nearer to hell. All the laws in England 
could not make Hyde one bit the better unless the people were 
a changed people. An Act of Parliament cannot change the 
hearts of the tyrants Ashton and Howard. These men have 
made themselves rich by making you poor. They have swollen 
with wealth by plundering you. Now, all the laws in England 
could not change the hearts of those wicked men; and unless 
their hearts were changed, and your hearts were changed, 
what could the law do? There would be a thousand ways of 
breaking through it; a thousand ways of avoiding it and of 
screening those who were detected, even after they had broken 
the law. It could do no good. Your minds must be made 
up. You, husbands ! unless your minds be made up that your 
wives ought not and shall not work; that rather than kill 
your wives by allowing them to work, you will allow God to 
take their lives by gradual starvation. . . . But God Almighty 

1 A Sermon Preached in Shepherd and Shepherdess Fields, London, 
on Sunday, May 12, 1839. 



12 g] THE GOSPEL OF REVOLT j 2 g 

is moving the working classes in the country, and therefore I 
exhort you to give yourself to prayer. Pray God to sound 
the alarm from one end of the land to the other ; and then, in 
the spirit of self-denial, and self-sacrifice, and devotion, be 
united as the heart of one man, and as one united and in- 
dissoluble phalanx, God leading you by a pillar of fire by 
night, and by a pillar of cloud by day, wend your way and 
force your passage through the wilderness of the promised 
land — the land that flows with milk and honey. It is high 
time there was some mighty movement. 1 

The emphasis which Stephens always laid on the economic 
aspects of the movement, not less than his advocacy of 
physical force, precluded Lovett and his friends from re- 
cognizing him as a bona fide Chartist. In an Address to 
the Irish People, published in August, 1838, in reply to 
the Precursors, the London Working Men's Association 
disclaimed all affiliation with Stephens, who was labeled as 
a man " more known for his opposition to< the New Poor 
Law than for his advocacy of Radicalism ", and who " ridi- 
culed our principles and publicly declared his want of con- 
fidence in us." 2 His sermons support the suspicion that in 
his heart of hearts he probably never believed in the efficacy 
of political agitation. It may have been the vanity of a 
popular idol and the fear of losing his grip on the people 
that restrained him from speaking his mind; he may have 
felt reluctant to disillusion the masses in their faith in the 
talismanic power of the Charter; he may have himself been 
unconsciously caught in the maelstrom of universal agita- 
tion, or he may have cast his lot with the Chartists simply 
because the new movement afforded a wide field for the 
dissemination of his revolutionary ideas. At any rate, his 

1 A Sermon Preached at Hyde, in Lancashire, on the 17th of Feb- 
ruary, 1839. 
* William Lovett, Life and Struggles, p. 195. 



130 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [ I30 

skepticism became the more pronounced the sterner the gov- 
ernment became in its hostility towards the movement. In 
a sermon preached at Ashton on May 26th, 1839, he warned 
the people of the futility of abortive demonstrations and 
desultory fighting and advised them to divide themselves into 
little bands of five or ten in a company and to meet at each 
other's houses, and " there over the hearthstone, without 
books and papers, without speeches and resolutions, with- 
out anything but talking and praying, tell one another what 
they think, and ask one another whether they are right, and 
whether their minds are made up to shed the last drop of 
blood rather than live in bondage, and sell their wives and 
children to the devil." And then in an ebullition of in- 
dignation, he cried out: 

Down with the House of Commons ; down with the House of 
Lords; aye, down with the throne, and down with the altar 
itself; burn the church; down with all rank, all dignity, all 
title, all power; unless that dignity, authority, and power will 
and do secure to the honest industrious efforts of the upright 
and poor man a comfortable maintenance in exchange for 
his labor. / don't care about your Charter; it may be all very 
right; it may be all very good; you have a right to get it, 
mind you, and I will stand by you in it ; but I don't care about 
it; and I don't care about a republic. You have a right to 
have it if you choose; and I will stand by you, in defending 
your right to have it if you choose. I don't care about a 
monarchy; I don't care about the present, or any other order 
of things, unless the Charter, the republic, the monarchy, the 
present order of things, or any other order of things that may 
be brought to succeed the present, should, first of all, and 
above all, and through all, secure to every son of the soil, to 
every living being of the human kind .... a full, a suffi- 
cient and a comfortable maintenance, according to the will 
and commandment of God. That is what I go for; that is 
what I talk for; that is what I live for; and that is what 



1 3 1 ] r # £ GOSPEL OF REVOLT 

I will die for; for I will have it. I say now what I said 
before; the earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof; the 
cattle upon a thousand hills; the gold and the silver; and he 
has filled all things with plenteousness. There is nothing nig- 
gardly from God. There has nothing come in stinging, close- 
fisted niggardliness from God Almighty. It is all plenty. 
There is plenty of soil— there is plenty of water— there is 
plenty of sun— there is plenty of rain— there is plenty of dew 
—the winter throws a warm blanket of driven snow upon 
the earth, to cover it and keep it warm: then He sends out 
the sun to rule the day— refreshing and reviving is the breeze. 
• • • What have we to thank God for? What have we to 
bless God for? Does God call upon us to thank Him for 
nothing? Then what kind of a God is He? And what sort 
of worshippers does He take us to be? Does He call upon 
us to bless Him for curses? Then what kind of a Maker 
Preserver, and Redeemer, and Judge, is He; and what kind of 
workmanship of his Almighty hand are we ? No, my brethren 
the very thought of such a thing is impiety and blasphemy,' 
God does not ask us to thank Him for nothing; or to bless 
Him for curses. Then what have we to thank and bless God 
for? You have to thank and bless God for houses and for 
lands, for food and for clothing, which He has given you, 
but which others have taken from you. ... I thank God' 
who gave me life and breath, and all things richly to enjoy.' 
And if any man asks me where they are, as a laboring man, 
I answer, " God gave them, but wicked men have taken them 
from me." But I not only thank God for having given 
them to me; I not only bless God for having bestowed them 
upon me, but I trust in God for strength to help me to take 
them back again. I am alive, and therefore, I thank God, I 
have the use of my understanding, and the understanding 
shows me not only what things are, but what things ought to 
be— and I trust that God, who gave me life, and who still lends 
me breath, and intrusts me with power of body as well as 
power of mind— I trust in that God, and I pray to that God, 
that he would, if it be found that my rights cannot be got back 



132 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [ I32 

without it, and by any way short of it, " I pray God literally 
to teach my hands to war, and my fingers to fight." .... I 
preach a startling truth ; I preach a sweeping truth ; I preach the 
truth, which will, if they choose to suffer it, set things right, 
without hurting any body. If they will not suffer the truth — 
if they will neither have it, nor forbear from hindering it, 
then I preach a truth which will be the means, I hope, of 
destroying them root and branch. It is time the prisoners 
were let loose; it is time the dungeon was broken open; it is 
time the Bastile was burnt down ; it is time that every working- 
man in England had the means, and there are the means, and 
they are not far off him, and the Government is beginning to 
find it out, and is arming the pensioners ; but, unluckily for 
the devils who arm the pensioners, the pensioners are training 
the people. . . . You have a right, every working man amongst 
you has the right to as much for your labor as will keep 
you and your families. 1 

For some time the idol of the masses, Stephens, however, 
lost his influence as soon as his criticism of the Chartist 
demands became pronounced. It was his heresy in politics 
that drove him to the Chartists and it was the same heresy 
that barred him from their ranks. The chief protagonist 
and pillar of insurrectionism, he was the first to be singled 
out for persecution by the government and to be denounced 
by the leaders of the movement. The cult of physical force, 
however, always had more than one high priest. 

George Julian Harney, unlike Stephens, devoted his 
ubiquitous activity to the exclusive agitation for the Charter. 
He was but twenty years of age when he plunged into the 
tempestuous sea of the Chartist movement. He came with 
a halo of martyrdom, having suffered imprisonment, when 
yet quite a boy, for selling unstamped literature. Brought up 

1 The London Democrat, June 8, 1839. 



I3 3] THE GOSPEL OF REVOLT ^3 

under extremely adverse circumstances, he cultivated a 
feeling of antagonism towards the powers that be. He 
could not boast of a thorough education, but he possessed 
great natural abilities. He was the man who better than any 
other of the Chartist leaders could in time read the hand- 
writing on the wall, displaying a deep understanding of the 
social fabric and a keen insight into the role which the work- 
ing class was destined to play. In many of his writings, he 
foreshadowed the subsequent principles of scientific Social- 
ism. At the beginning of his career, however, he was the 
most violent agitator of physical force. He was the secre- 
tary of the " London Democratic Association " and, at the 
age of twenty-two, was the chief writer for The London 
Democrat which was started on the 13th of April, 1839, to 
preach the gospel of insurrection. Assuming the name of 
Friend of the People, he hailed the spirit of Marat with a 
courage which only youth could inspire: 

Hail ! spirit of Marat ! Hail ! glorious apostle of Equality ! ! 
Hail ! immortal martyr of Liberty ! ! ! All Hail ! thou whose 
imperishable title I have assumed; and oh! may the God of 
Freedom strengthen me to brave, like thee, the persecution of 
tyrants and traitors, or (if so doomed) to meet, like thee, a 
martyr's death ! 1 

His style, not refined as that of Bronterre nor as florid as 
that of O'Connor, was more poignant than that of either of 
them. His exhortation to revolt was direct. Stephens 
suggested that " Englishmen have the right not only to have 
arms, but to take them up in defence of their lives, their 
wives and children, for their homes and their hearths." 2 
Harney made it his " arduous task " to urge war with 
traitors, " war to the knife." In his paper he printed 

1 The London Democrat, April 13, 1839. 

5 A Sermon Preached at Primrose Hill, on Sunday, May 12, 1839. 



I3 4 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [134 

" Scenes and Sketches from the French Revolution," depict- 
ing events and leaders of the movement, " in order that the 
present generation may derive a lesson from the deeds of 
the past," learn to avoid the errors, and, in the revolution 
" which will speedily take place " in England, " imitate the 
heroic, God-like deeds of the sons of republican France." 
He called upon the poor and oppressed, the young and the 
brave, " to strike the home blow, the final blow, the death 
blow for old England and Freedom," and assuring them 
that no army could withstand a million of armed men, he 
exhorted the workingmen to be armed and prepared to 
exercise their " first and holiest right, — the sacred right 
of insurrection " : 

Men of the East and West, men of the North and South, 
your success lies with yourselves, depend upon yourselves alone, 
and your cause will be triumphant . . . Prepare ! Prepare ! ! 
Prepare ! ! ! Listen not to the men who would preach delay. 
The man who would now procrastinate is a traitor, and may 
your vengeance light upon his head. . . . Let me exhort you to 
arm. . . . Arm to protect your aged parents, arm for your 
wives and children, arm for your sweethearts and sisters, 
arm to drive tyranny from the soil and oppression from the 
judgment-seat. Your country, your posterity, your God de- 
mands of you to arm! Arm!! Arm!!! . . . Come, then, 
men of the North, from your snow-capped hills; come, then, 
men of the South, from your sunlit valleys ; come to the gather- 
ing; unite, fraternize, arm, and you will be free. 1 

As a speaker, Harney was far below the mark. But he 
always had a sufficient stock of " strong words ", which 
were in great demand by the masses, and his role was more 
of an agitator than of a leader. 2 

1 The London Democrat, April 20, 1839. 

2 Cf. R. G. Gammage, History of the Chartist Movement, Newcastle- 
on-Tyne and London, 1894, PP- 29-30. 



3D 



] THE GOSPEL OF REVOLT I ^ 



Henry Vincent, " the English Demosthenes ", was an- 
other man who helped blow the embers of popular dis- 
content into a consuming flame of revolt. The son of a 
poor silver-smith, he was compelled to earn his livelihood 
at the age of eleven. Unable to give him a good education, 
his father inculcated in him, however, a love for freedom 
and justice. Vincent became interested in politics in 1828, 
when he was but fifteen years of age. He was subsequently 
an active member of the Political Unions at Hull and Lon- 
don and was one of the members who were deputed by the 
London Working Men's Association to agitate for the 
Charter. He was a popular orator of great skill and he 
used his talents to rouse the passions of the people. Judg- 
ing by the portrait drawn of him by one of the Chartists, 
he was the most graceful and winning orator on the Char- 
tist side: 

With a fine mellow flexible voice, a florid complexion, and 
excepting in intervals of passion, a most winning expression, 
he had only to present himself in order to win all hearts over 
to his side. His attitude was perhaps the most easy and 
graceful of any popular orator of the time. For fluency of 
speech he rivaled all his contemporaries, few of whom were 
anxious to stand beside him on the platform. His rare power 
of imitation irresistibly drew peals of laughter from the gravest 
audience. His versatility, which enabled him to change from 
the grave to the gay and vice versa, and to assume a dozen 
various characters in almost as many minutes, was one of the 
secrets of his success. With the fair sex, his slight hand- 
some figure, the merry twinkle of his eye, his incomparable 
mimicry, his passionate bursts of enthusiasm, the rich music 
of his voice, and above all, his appeals for the elevation of 
woman, rendered him a universal favorite. 1 

1 Gammage, op. cit., p. n. 



136 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [^6 

While the list of the leaders and agitators during the first 
stages of the movement is by no means complete, special 
mention must be made of John Frost, the " martyr magis- 
trate ", who ventured to carry the propaganda of revolt 
into practice and who' subsequently won the hearts of all 
liberty-seeking people. 

The son of humble parents, Frost was born on the 25th 
of May, 1786, at Newport. In his boyhood, he displayed 
great abilities. His early education, however, was quite 
limited, as he lost his father while he was yet in cradle and 
was brought up by his grandfather, a boot and shoe maker, 
who cherished the hope of making his grandson useful in his 
business. After sending him to school in Bristol for a few 
years, he indentured John to his business. The boy was 
released, however, through the interference of an uncle, and, 
at the age of sixteen, was apprenticed to a tailor. Later 
he became an assistant to a woolen draper in Bristol. At 
the age of twenty, he went to London, where he worked 
at the latter trade. At the solicitations of his mother, he 
returned to Newport and established himself as a draper 
and tailor. In 1822 a certain Mr- Protheroe, an influential 
politician of Newport, sued Frost's uncle for an alleged 
debt of £150. The suit was decided in favor of Protheroe. 
As bail for his uncle, Frost threatened to expose Protheroe 
unless his loss were refunded to him. This threat was 
construed by the court as an attempt at extortion, and to 
avoid the payment of £1000 damages awarded against him, 
Frost sold his whole stock, paid all his creditors, with the 
exception of one relative who had him arrested for a debt 
of £200. He then surrendered himself as insolvent. In 
the meantime, an action for libel was brought against him 
on the ground that he had alluded to the jury as having been 
' packed ' and to the witnesses as perjurers. For this, he 
paid the penalty of six months' confinement in Goldbath 



I3 7] THE GOSPEL OF REVOLT 137 

Fields Prison at London. Popular opinion was, however, 
in favor of Frost. After his release from prison, he was 
met on the road, three miles out of Newport, by about 
fifteen thousand persons with flags and bands of music. He 
was drawn in the carriage by his townspeople until they 
reached the bridge, when he was taken out, placed in a 
chair and carried on men's shoulders in triumph around 
town. 

In his youth, while in London, Frost used to attend meet- 
ings of political clubs at which the writings of Thomas 
Paine and other radicals were discussed. It was then that 
he became imbued with radical ideas which he cherished all 
his life. An avowed adherent of Cobbett, he entered the 
political arena of his native town in 181 7. He was an in- 
defatigable advocate of universal suffrage long before the 
Charter was formulated by the London Working Men's 
Association. In recognition of his work for municipal re- 
form, he was elected in 183 1 to the town council of New- 
port. In 1836, he was appointed by the Secretary of State 
to the position of borough magistrate. At the same time 
he was also a Poor Law Guardian. In 1837, he was elected 
mayor of Newport. In all these offices, Frost distinguished 
himself for his ability, efficiency, and justice. As Poor 
Law Guardian, he exerted all his powers to counteract the 
cruelties of the law. He joined the Newport Working 
Men's Association in 1838 and took an active part in the 
proceedings and plans of the organization. The miners, 
colliers and iron workers were proud of their friend, the 
magistrate, and accorded him all the honors of a leader. 

In his relations with people, Frost was always liked for 
his kind disposition, mild manners and benevolence. Yet 
it was not for these personal attributes that he won the 
affection of the masses. His Chartist career, however, 
forming as it does an integral part of the history of the 
movement, must be deferred to a later chapter. 



CHAPTER IX 

The people's voice is heard around, 
And martyr's blood cries from the ground; 
Demanding justice for the brave, 
And freedom for the British slave. 
On ! on ye sons of dear-bought fame, 
Your long-lost rights you must regain. 
Make tyrants crouch, and traitors see 
That Britain's sons shall yet be free. 

— William Aitken. 

The People 

The first period of the Chartist movement was marked 
by a state of ominous excitement in all parts of the coun- 
try. The agitators for the " six points " joined hands with 
the antagonists of the New Poor Law and the factory 
system and spread the spirit of discontent, until the response 
of the masses was as great as their distress. Within a very 
short time after its publication, the People's Charter gained 
millions of adherents. The temper of the people could not 
be mistaken. Illegal underground societies with sinister 
objects sprang up alongside of Chartist organizations. An 
authentic description of one of those societies is given by a 
contemporary radical who in 1838 was invited to join a 
" Foreign Affairs Committee " at Birmingham : 

The object of the society I found to be to cut off Lord 
Palmerston's head. Things were bad among workmen in 
those days, and I had no doubt somebody's head ought to be 
cut off, and I hoped they had hit upon the right one. The 
secretary was a Chartist leader named Warden, who ended by 
cutting his own head off instead, which showed confusion of 
138 [138 



!39J THE PEOPLE i^g 

ideas by which Lord Palmerston profited. Poor Warden cut 
his own throat. 1 

The first important public demonstration in favor of the 
Charter was held at Glasgow on the 28th of May, 1838, 
under the auspices of the Working Men's Association. In 
order to render the demonstration most effective, the Bir- 
mingham Political Union sent a fraternal delegation headed 
by Thomas Attwood. The procession of about two hun- 
dred thousand working men and women was arranged with 
great pomp. Forty bands of music were placed at equal 
distances, and over two hundred flags and banners with 
various devices were carried along the line of the march. The 
Birmingham delegates were met with an outburst of enthu- 
siasm and were accorded great honors, in appreciation of the 
prestige they lent to the demonstration. Of the speeches, 
the most characteristic was that of Thomas Attwood, who 
explained the objects of the Charter and developed a plan 
of petitioning Parliament. Regarding the movement as 
purely political, he warned the people that they had against 
them " the whole of the aristocracy, nine-tenths of the gen- 
try, the great body of the clergy, and all the pensioners, 
sinecurists, and bloodsuckers that feed on the vitals of the 
people." But he spoke in a most hopeful strain of his own 
class, declaring that if Parliament refused to concede the 
popular demands, the workingmen, together with their 
friends of the middle class, should proclaim a " sacred 
strike." Attwood's expectations of support from the middle 
class was strengthened by the fact that prominent members 
of that class participated in the demonstration. The pro- 
vincial Scotch merchants and manufacturers were not yet 

1 George Jacob Holyoake, Sixty Years of an Agitator's Life, Lon- 
don, iooo, vol. ii, p. 77. 



I 4 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [ I4 o 

conscious of the real causes which spurred the working 
class to the struggle. Assurances of the peaceful designs 
of the leaders were also given by a delegate from the Lon- 
don Working Men's Association, and the middle class was 
fairly represented at the banquet which took place in the 
evening. 

Things did not run so smoothly at the manifestation in 
Newcastle-on-Tyne which was held by about eighty thou- 
sand persons on the 27th of June, 1838, the date of the 
coronation of Victoria. To begin with, the inscriptions on 
the banners were not of a conciliatory character. One of 
them expressed exaltation of "Freedom" in Byron's words : 

When once more her hosts assemble, 
Let the tyrants only tremble ; 
Smile they at this idle threat? 
Crimson tears may follow yet. 

Another motto, taken from the same poet and characteristic 
of a number of others, referred to " Revolution " : 

I've seen some nations, like o'er-loaded asses, 
Kick off their burdens, meaning the high classes. 

The speeches were delivered in a rather defiant strain. One 
of the speakers, a working man, declared that the people 
would use " every means, — not every legal means, mark ! — 
but every means for the attainment of universal suffrage." 
He adverted to the coronation of the Queen in no conven- 
tional style: 

They had the representative of the despot Nicholas, and of 
the sleek tyrant Louis Philippe, and the representatives from 
all their brother tyrants, assisting to crown sovereign of a 
great nation a little girl who would be more usefully and 
properly employed at her needle; but the people would be no 
longer led away by their gaudy trappings; they would look 
to themselves and to their families, for if they saw the 



141 ] THE PEOPLE I4I 

gewgaws of royalty on the one side, they would see the damn- 
able Bastile on the other. 

Feargus O'Connor was one of the star speakers. With 
his characteristic wit and sarcasm he assailed the New 
Poor Law: 

Harry Brougham said they wished no poor law as every 
young man ought to lay up provision for old age; yet, while 
he said this with one side of his mouth, he was screwing the 
other side to get his retiring pension raised from £4,000 to 
£5,000 a year. But if the people had their rights they would 
not pay his salary. Harry would go to the treasury, he would 
knock, but Cerberus would not open the door, he would say, 
" Who is there ? ", and then luckless Harry would answer, " It's 
an ex-chancellor coming for his £1,250, a quarter's salary"; 
but Cerberus would say, " There have been a dozen of ye 
here to-day already, and there is nothing for ye." Then Harry 
would cry, " Oh ! what will become of me ! what shall I do ! " 
and Cerberus would say, " Go into the Bastile that you have 
provided for the people! " Then when Lord Harry and Lady 
Harry went into the Bastile, the keeper would say, " This is 
your ward to the right, and this, my lady, is your ward to the 
left ; we are Malthusians here, and are afraid you would breed, 
therefore you must be kept asunder." If he witnessed such a 
scene as this he might have some pity for Lady Brougham, 
but little pity would be due to Lord Harry. 1 

While O'Connor was speaking, a body of dragoons, a 
line of cavalry and a column of infantry appeared near the 
meeting. This caused great indignation among the crowd. 
O'Connor expressed his regret that the men were not in a 
condition to repel force by force. He warned the " brats 
of aristocracy " to take care " lest they dared the people to 
assemble and bring their arms too — they would find there 

1 R. G. Gammage, op. cit., p. 26. 



I4 2 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [ I42 

were gallant hearts and virtuous arms under a black coat 
as well as under a red one." The troops were apparently 
determined to provoke the people to resistance, but the dis- 
cretion of the people averted a riot, and the meeting was 
concluded in perfect order. 

Public meetings were also held with distinct success in 
Sunderland and Northampton. The addresses by Vincent 
and others were received with great enthusiasm. The Whig 
rule was contrasted with the honeyed promises made by the 
party before it came into power. Unanimous resolutions 
in favor of the People's Charter were carried with shouts 
of joy and defiance. These meetings were followed on the 
6th of August by a great demonstration at Birmingham. 
Arranged under the auspices of the famous Political Union 
of that city, the parade attracted the workingmen of the 
whole manufacturing district. About two hundred thou- 
sand persons were said to have participated in the proces- 
sion. The Birmingham division was followed by six others 
from Wolverhampton, Walsall, Dudley, Halesowen, War- 
wick and Studley. 

The trades were represented with their flags and banners 
inscribed with appropriate mottoes. Feargus O'Connor 
was introduced amidst loud cheers, as representing six 
towns in Yorkshire. Thomas Attwood, who presided at 
the meeting, reiterated his moral force policy, but at the 
same time threatened the House of Commons that should 
the Charter not be speedily granted, the people would be 
forced to exercise a little gentle compulsion. He again 
suggested a general strike of one week as a means of im- 
pressing the government. It was at this meeting that O'Con- 
nor for the first time introduced his physical force notions. 
The people } T earned for a strong word, and he knew how to 
please them. The whole tenor of his speech was in har- 
mony with the exhortation to " flesh every sword to the 



143] THE PEOPLE H3 

hilt." While the crowd demonstrated its approval of 
O'Connor's sentiments, the local leaders could hardly re- 
press their feelings against the speaker. The meeting, how- 
ever, was concluded in perfect peace. Important resolutions 
were adopted calling upon all workingmen to sign a Na- 
tional Petition for the enactment of the Charter and to elect 
delegates to a General Convention of the Industrious 
Classes. 1 

O'Connor's allusion to physical force caused unfavorable 
comment in the press and great anxiety among the leaders 
of the London Working Men's Association. As the 17th 
of September was fixed for a grand demonstration in Lon- 
don, the Association seized the opportunity to repudiate 
O'Connor by instructing its speakers " to keep as closely as 
possible to the two great questions of the meeting — the 
Charter and the Petition — and as far as possible to avoid 
all extraneous matter or party politics, as well as every 
abusive or violent expression which may tend to injure our 
glorious cause." 2 

Apprehensive of fostering the sentiments created by the 
Birmingham manifestation, the London Working Men's 
Association endeavored to have the metropolitan meeting 
arranged with as little pomp and display as was possible 
under the circumstances. In order to invest the proceedings 
with some air of authority, the high bailiff of Westminster 
was requested to convene the meeting. It may have been 
due to these circumstances that the Palace Yard demonstra- 
tion, although represented by delegates from eighty-nine 
towns, was attended by a comparatively small assembly of 
about thirty thousand persons. Practically every speaker 
cautioned against violence. But this very fact betrayed 

1 Cf. infra, ch. x. 

2 William Lovett, op. cit., p. 181. 



I4 4 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [144 

the alarm which was felt by the leaders. It was evident 
that the mood of the masses was beyond control. One of 
the speakers, a delegate from Newcastle, referred to the 
right of the people to assert their own independence in no 
ambiguous terms : 

The men of the north are well organized. The men of New- 
castle would dare to defend with their arms what they utter 
with their tongues, as the military would have learned on the 
coronation day had they made any attack upon the meeting. 
We are willing to try all moral means that are left, we are 
willing to try a throne, so long as it is conducive to the happi- 
ness of the people; we are willing to have an aristocracy, so 
long as they behave themselves civilly ; but we think we have 
a right to have a reciprocity of rights, and if not, we are pre- 
pared to go against the throne and the aristocracy. The men 
of the Tyne and the Wear would not draw their swords until 
their enemies draw upon them, but having once put their hands 
to the plough they would never look back. 1 

O'Connor, who appeared as a representative of forty or 
fifty towns in Scotland and England, delivered one of his 
wittiest speeches. The people, he said, were called pick- 
pockets. There was, however, a striking difference between 
a poor pickpocket and a rich pickpocket : " the poor man 
picked the rich man's pocket to fill his belly, and the rich 
man picked the poor man's belly to fill his pocket." He 
proclaimed that the people did not want the obsolete con- 
stitution of tallow and wind, but a constitution " of a rail- 
road genius, propelled by steam power and enlightened by 
the rays of gas." Every conquest which was called honor- 
able had been achieved by physical force, but the Chartists 
did not want it, because " if all hands were pulling for uni- 
versal suffrage, they would soon pull down the stronghold 

1 Gammage, op. cit., p. 49. 



i 4 5] THE PE0PLE 145 

of corruption." O'Connor was followed by several speak- 
ers who alluded to physical force in similar vein. A dele- 
gate from Manchester expressed his conviction that the 
people had a right to arm in defence of their liberties and, 
if the Petition failed, he defied " the power of any govern- 
ment or any armed Bourbon police " to put down the armed 
people. 1 

The meeting which lasted over five hours adopted Lovett's 
resolution in favor of the People's Charter and responded 
to the Birmingham call by collecting about sixteen thou- 
sand signatures to the National Petition and appointing 
eight delegates to the General Convention which was to 
meet in London " to watch over the presentation of the 
Petition and to obtain, by all legal and constitutional means, 
the enactment of the People's Charter." 

In order to avoid an open rupture with O'Connor and, 
at the same time, to counteract the effect of the " physical 
force swagger ", the London Working Men's Association, 
immediately after the Palace Yard demonstration, prepared 
an Address to the Irish People, imploring " the co-operation 
of rich and poor, male and female, the sober, the reflecting, 
and the industrious " to carry forward the principles of 
moral force: 

We are not going to affirm that we have been altogether guilt- 
less of impropriety of language, for when the eye dwells on 
extremest poverty trampled on by severe oppression, the heart 
often forces a language from the tongue which sober re- 
flection would redeem, and sound judgment condemn. But 
we deny that we are influenced by any other feelings than a 
desire to see our institutions peaceably and orderly based 
upon principles of justice. We believe that a Parliament com- 
posed of the wise and good of all classes, would devise means 

1 Gammage, op. cit., pp. 50-53. 



146 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [ I4 6 

of improving the condition of the millions, without injury to 
the just interests of the few. We feel that unjust interests 
have been fostered under an unjust system, that it would be 
equally unjust to remove without due precaution; and, when 
due, individual indemnification. We are as desirous as the 
most scrupulous conservative of protecting all that is good,, 
wise and just in our institutions, and to hold as sacred and 
secure the domain of the rich equally with the cottage of the 
poor. But we repeat that we seek to effect our object in peace, 
with no other force than that of argument or persuasion. 1 

Regardless of the fact that the Address was signed " on 
behalf of one hundred and thirty-six workingmen's and 
radical associations ", actual events showed that the influ- 
ence of the London Working Men's Association was on the 
wane. The meetings began to assume a formidable aspect 
even as early as the autumn of 1838. The Manchester 
demonstration of September 25th was arranged on a 
gigantic scale. There was scarcely a village in the Lan- 
cashire district that did not contribute its quota to the as- 
sembly of about three hundred thousand persons who 
demonstrated their determination to have the Charter be- 
come the law of the land. Practically all workshops and 
factories throughout the district were closed. The hun- 
dreds of flags and banners had various devices and mottoes 
of a threatening character. " Murder demands justice " 
was the comment inscribed under a picture of the Peterloo 
massacre. Another banner represented a hand grasping a 
dagger and bore the gruesome inscription : " Oh, tyrants 1 
will you force us to this ?" A spirit of enthusiasm pervaded 
the line, and the warnings of vengeance brought forth deaf- 
ening cheers of the crowds. O'Connor and Stephens, who 
were among the speakers, received a royal reception. The 

1 William Lovett, op. cit, pp. 188-9. 



i 4 ;] THE PE0PLE 147 

meeting which was presided over by John Fielden, the 
popular advocate of factory reform and opponent of 
the New Poor Law, adopted a resolution in favor of the 
Charter and elected eight delegates to the Convention. 

The Manchester demonstration was followed on the 15th 
of October by one in the west of Yorkshire, Peep Green 
having been selected as the fittest place between Leeds and 
Huddersfield. The gathering comprised about two hun- 
dred and fifty thousand persons, who enjoyed all the attrac- 
tions of the other manifestations, including bands of 
music, banners, flags, inscriptions, and addresses by O'Con- 
nor and other stars. Similar demonstrations were subse- 
quently held in Liverpool and in a number of other cities 
all over the country, which adopted resolutions in favor of 
the People's Charter and elected representatives to the Gen- 
eral Convention. 

The people of the West were agitated by their favorite 
orator, Henry Vincent. He kept the workingmen of Bris- 
tol, Bath, Bradford, Cheltenham and other cities in a state 
of constant excitement. A great pet of the women, he 
organized a number of radical female associations, and 
hundreds of names were enrolled every day in favor of the 
Charter. He also succeeded in establishing his supremacy 
in the Welsh territory. This was a distinct victory for the 
young and ardent orator. On account of the relatively high 
wages paid to the operatives in the coal and iron districts, 
the Welsh workingmen had been considered immune from 
all radicalism. Vincent, however, roused the dormant dis- 
content of the wage-earners and within a short time, in 
spite of the urgent appeals made by high personages against 
the Charter, gained the unflinching support of the masses 
and actually prepared them for the " death-dance of revo- 
lution." 

The frequent manifestations in favor of the Charter 



I4 8 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [148 

fostered the spirit of revolt. The six points were repre- 
sented as tantamount to the sum total of human happiness, 
and the working people decided to win the Charter at all 
hazards. As the demonstrations by day incurred loss of 
time during- working hours and as the authorities started 
to thwart indoor meetings by refusing the use of the com- 
modious town halls, the leaders seized the opportunity of 
fanning the passions of the people by arranging a series 
of torch-light processions in a number of cities, including 
the industrial centres of Bolton, Ashton, Stockport, Staley- 
bridge, Hyde and Leigh. The meetings proved a great suc- 
cess, attracting in each case tens of thousands of working 
men and women who pledged their lives in allegiance to 
the cause. The processions usually passed the principal 
streets of each city cheering the leaders and denouncing 
those newspapers, magistrates and manufacturers who had 
shown antagonism to the movement. Bands of music pre- 
ceeded the march, while banners of various sizes and colors 
and bearing revolutionary devices were carried in the blaz- 
ing stream of torch lights. " For children and wife, we'll 
war to the knife! "; " He that hath no sword, let him sell 
his garment and buy one " ; " Remember the bloody deeds 
of Peterloo ", and " Tyrants, believe and tremble ", — these 
were common mottoes at the demonstrations. The meet- 
ings were always attended by one or more of the lions of. 
the movement, — O'Connor, Stephens, and Harney being the 
chief speakers. At the torch-light meeting which was held 
on the 14th of November, 1838, at Hyde, Stephens, sur- 
rounded by a large number of men wearing and carrying 
upon poles red caps of liberty, branded the manufacturers 
as a gang of murderers whose blood was required to satisfy 
the demands of public justice. He advised every one of 
his hearers to get a large carving knife which might be 
used to cut either a rasher of bacon or the men who op- 
posed their demands. 



149] THE PE0PLE 149 

The agitators of physical force found the field ready. As 
a matter of fact, thousands of men in all parts of the coun- 
try were at that time secretly making arms. The Man- 
chester delegate to the Palace Yard demonstration in London 
declared that the people of Lancashire were armed, that he 
himself had seen the arms hanging over the mantlepieces 
of the poor. 1 At the torch-light meetings, weapons were 
brandished and frequent discharges from firearms were 
made for no other purpose than to> impress the authorities 
with the fact that the people were armed. At the Hyde 
meeting Stephens asked his hearers if they were ready to 
resist force by force. The loud firing of arms and the 
forest of hands raised in response to his question satisfied 
the agitator that it was all right, that the people knew how 
to repel the enemy in a way which would tell sharper tales 
than their tongues- 2 

The excitement grew even more intense after the publica- 
tion of a letter which Lord John Russell sent on the 22nd 
of November, 1838, to the Lancashire magistrates, re- 
questing them to announce the illegality of torchlight meet- 
ings and to use all means to prevent and disperse such gath- 
erings. Lord Russell was denounced as the tool of the 
middle class particularly because only a few weeks before 
he had given expression to sentiments of a diametrically 
opposite nature. Speaking at a dinner given in his honor 
by the civic authorities of Liverpool and referring to the 
public demonstrations in favor of the Charter, he said : 

There were some, perhaps, who would put down such 
meetings; but such was not his opinion nor that of the Gov- 
ernment with which he acted. He thought the people had a 
right to meet. If they had no grievances, common sense would 

1 Gammage, op. cit., p. 52. 
* Ibid., p. 97. 



I50 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [150 

speedily come to the rescue and put an end to those meetings. 
It was not from free discussion, it was not from the unchecked 
declaration of public opinion that government had anything to 
fear. There was fear when men were driven by force to 
secret combinations. There was the fear, there was the 
danger, and not in free discussion. 1 

The people, in their indignation, defied the government 
and publicly trampled under foot the royal proclamation 
of the middle of December which, on penalty of imprison- 
ment, enjoined all persons to desist from participating in 
torch-light meetings. The chasm between the workingmen 
and the middle class became ever wider. If a workingman 
failed to abuse the middle class, he was himself vilified and 
denounced. The bearing of arms became more general. 
Holyoake witnessed in Birmingham that those who had no 
better weapons " sharpened an old file and stuck it in a 
haft." 2 The Dundee Advertiser of April 12, 1839, de- 
clared that " a number of infatuated individuals " had com- 
menced drilling and intimated that the authorities were 
keeping an eye over them : " Shackles in place of pikes will 
shortly be the upshot to those who engage in such danger- 
ous pastime." Even women started to organize themselves 
and in several instances procured arms. 3. This was par- 
ticularly striking in Welsh towns where Vincent had perfect 
control over the situation and where he had organized a 
number of female Chartist associations. At a public meet- 
ing in Pentonville he invoked the people to swear that they 
would be ready to act if their demands were rejected by the 
government, and he called upon all who were prepared to 
turn out to hold up their arms. His appeal was answered 

1 Cf. Hansard, op. cit., vol. xlix, 1839, p. 455. 

* Holyoake, op. cit., vol. i, p. 83. 

8 Cf. Richard Marsden in The London Democrat, May n, 1839- 



151] THE PEOPLE I5I 

by thunderous shouts, "We swear! We swear!" and a 
majority of those present readily raised their arms. 1 

The arrest of Stephens, the first Chartist victim, for at- 
tending illegal meetings and using violent language, in- 
creased the excitement to an alarming extent. The masses 
were not satisfied with the mere possession of arms and 
sought practical advice on military operations. The widely 
circulated Defensive Instructions to the People by Colonel 
Macerone was supplemented by special articles on Military 
Science by Major Beniowski in The London Democrat. 
Extolling the " science of killing " as the most useful and 
the most sublime of all sciences, small bands of men were 
instructed how to resist the attacks of a more numerous 
enemy and how to render offensive operations most advan- 
tageous for strategical and tactical purposes. 2 

The military science is, simply, that which teaches you how 
to maim and kill as many of your enemies as possible, and also 
how to protect yourselves against a similar propensity of your 
opponents. If those who first reduced this " glorious " whole- 
sale murder to rules had no end in view but to gratify the 
beastly passions of the few, they were abominable monsters, 
whom it would have been the duty of every honest man to 
smother at their birth. But if their intention was the de- 
fence of the enslaved, oppressed, and starving millions, to 
curb ambition or to oppose the claims of incomprehensible 
rights, mankind ought to erect altars to their memory. In this 
last case, the science of killing and destroying is the most 

1 The Chartist Riots at Newport, November, 1839, 2d ed., Newport, 
1881, p. 15. 

2 The attitude of the Chartists towards war and armaments was 
practically identical both in spirit and expression with the ante helium 
professions of the modern socialists. In view of the general interest 
in the present war, it was considered not amiss to reprint a character- 
istic dialogue between a moral force Whig and a Chartist, giving the 
"school-master's" view of the subject. See Appendix D. 



152 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [ I52 

useful and necessary of all the sciences ; it is, in fact, the only- 
one which, if universally known by the people at large, could 
prevent homicide at all. Unhappily this terribly sublime 
knowledge is not to be attained without difficulty. ... It is 
only by a continual, active, and concentrated application of an 
undivided mind, prompted by a peculiar natural disposition, 
or inflamed by extraordinary events, that any man can attain it. 1 

The extraordinary events were in the process of realiza- 
tion. The talk of preparedness and resistance impelled the 
physical force advocates to attempt a wide agitation among 
the soldiers. The Chartists were urged to impart all in- 
formation about the movement to the men in the barracks 
and were assured that the soldiers were " on the right 
scent ", that they read O'Connor's Northern Star and that 
even the London Democrat " found its way into the army ". 
Discussing the question as to what the soldiers would do in 
the coming struggle, a correspondent of the physical force 
weekly 2 expressed his belief, which was based on personal 
observations, that they would not defend " the citadel of 
corruption " by cutting the throats of their fathers, their 
brothers, their mothers, their sisters and sweethearts, but, 
on the contrary, would " supply the places of the moral- 
force men " who would turn traitors to the cause. Whether 
or not the people shared this belief, the " extraordinary 
events " ran into a different channel. 

1 The London Democrat, April 27, 1839. 
a Ibid., May 4, 1839. 



CHAPTER X 
The Petition, the Convention and the Government 

The idea of a National Petition, as well as the plan of a 
General Convention of the Industrious Classes, originated 
with the Birmingham Political Union. Nothing can be 
farther from the truth than the " historical " assertion that 
the Petition and the Convention were undertaken in simu- 
lation of the tactics of the French Revolutionists. Both 
proposals emanated from the moral force group at the Bir- 
mingham demonstration of August 6, 1838, but once 
adopted they were made most use of by the preachers of 
revolt. 

The National Petition is credited to the pen of R. K. 
Douglas, the editor of the Birmingham Journal. It de- 
mands the enactment of but five points — that of equal rep- 
resentation having been omitted probably because it was 
confounded with universal suffrage. The petition is 
couched in terms far from revolutionary. It is lacking not 
only in vigor of expression, but also in definiteness of aim. 
The author apparently took extreme caution not to offend 
any class or any group of individuals. The influence of 
Thomas Attwood is seen throughout the petition, par- 
ticularly in the demand to abolish " the laws which make 
food dear, and those which, by making money scarce, make 
labor cheap ". Not a word is said about the New Poor 
Law or about factory legislation ; not a hint is given of the 
unjust distribution of wealth. On the contrary, repeated 
references are made to the burden imposed on the capitalist 
*53] 153 



!54 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [154 

class, and the House is told " that the capital of the master 
must no longer be deprived of its due reward ".* The peti- 
tion complains against the load of taxes which affects capi- 
tal as well as labor, and alludes to other matters which, in 
previous petitions, were labeled by Bronterre as " uncon- 
sequential rubbish ". 2 It would have been amazing to see 
the working class agitated by the Petition, had that agita- 
tion not been the expression of a much deeper cause. It 
was the idea of the Petition and not its contents that con- 
tained the promise of the holy land and that animated the 
people. It is on this account that the National Petition must 
be considered one of the most remarkable documents in 
the history of the English labor movement. The call for a 
national subscription for the petition received a generous 
response. Men and women devoted night after night to 
the collection of funds and signatures and submitted good- 
humoredly to every sort of reply to their solicitations. The 
contributions were necessary in order to defray the cost of 
the campaign and to support the members of the Conven- 
tion. 

The opening of the General Convention of the Indus- 
trious Classes took place on the 4th of February, 1839, at 
the British Coffee House, Cockspur Street, London. The 
subsequent sessions were held at the Hall of the Dr. John- 
son Tavern, Fleet Street. Of the fifty-three delegates rep- 
resenting various cities from all parts of the kingdom, three 
were magistrates, six newspaper editors, two clergymen, 
two physicians, while the others were shopkeepers, trades- 
men and laborers. The objects of the General Convention 
were declared to be as follows : 

1. To collect the signatures already appended to the National 

1 See Appendix C. 

2 Cf. supra, p. 82. 



155] PETITI0N > CONVENTION AND GOVERNMENT 155 

Petition in different parts of the Kingdom, and to use every 
possible exertion to cause it to be signed by every reformer in 
these realms. 

2. To use the most efficient means and choose the most fit- 
ting time for introducing the National Petition into the Com- 
mons' House of Parliament. 

3. To select such members of Parliament as the majority of 
the delegates may deem proper, for introducing the bill en- 
titled the People's Charter into both Houses of Parliament 
and enforcing its adoption. 

4. To wait upon the members of the House of Commons 
(and, if necessary, upon Her Majesty and the Peers of these 
realms) and individually and collectively enforce upon them 
the claims of the industrious millions to their just share of 
political power and the necessity and justice for complying 
with their demands by supporting the National Petition and 
voting for the People's Charter. 

5. To create and extend, by every constitutional means, an 
enlightened and powerful public opinion in favor of the above 
objects, and justly and righteously impress that opinion upon 
the legislature, as the best means of securing the prosperity 
and happiness of our country and averting those calamities 
which exclusive legislation and corrupt government will neces- 
sarily produce. 

Notwithstanding this peaceful declaration, the delegates 
repeatedly proclaimed the Convention the only representa- 
tive and legally elected body, assumed functions of a legis- 
lative body, and adopted a set of rules and regulations, in- 
cluding those relating to future elections of delegates and 
the duties of the constituencies. The presentation of the 
National Petition was postponed until the 6th of May, in 
order to procure a larger number of signatures. Mission- 
aries were sent out to various towns to agitate for the 
Charter and to collect signatures to the Petition. In the 
interim, the delegates in London busied themselves with a 



I5 6 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [156 

variety of problems. The " grievances of Ireland ", " the 
suffering in the manufacturing districts ", " the factory 
system ", " the New Rural Police Bill ", were but a few of 
the subjects that gave rise to long and heated discussions. 
" In fact," Lovett confesses, " the love of talk was as 
characteristic of our little house as the big one at West- 
minster." x Of more immediate interest was the question 
of " ulterior measures " to be adopted if the petition were 
rejected on the 6th of May. Care was taken that the dis- 
cussions and proceedings of the Convention be reported in 
a way to excite the passions of the masses. The addresses 
of the delegates dwelling at length on the distress and mis- 
ery of the people were printed and distributed broadcast 
among the industrial and agricultural wage-earners. The 
speech of delegate Richard Marsden of Preston attracted 
particular attention because it was not an elaborated state- 
ment of a social investigator or an embellished picture of 
a professional agitator. It was the cry of actual despair 
that pierced the hearts of all who heard or read his narra- 
tive. As an illustration of the effects of the factory sys- 
tem, Marsden presented the case of his own wife and chil- 
dren who were entirely destitute of the bare necessities of 
life. With an infant at her breast, his wife was so ema- 
ciated in consequence of lack of nourishment that when 
the baby tried to nurse, it drew the mother's blood. 2 

The division in the ranks of the Chartist delegates was 
evident from the beginning. The first collision between 
the moral force adherents and the followers of the Marat 
policy took place at the very opening of the Convention. At 
the first few sessions the London Working Men's Associa- 
tion had the upper hand. Lovett was elected secretary in 

1 Lovett, op. cit., p. 204. 

2 This statement was subsequently confirmed to Gammage by Mrs. 
Marsden. See Gammage, op. cit., p. 108. 



!tj7] PETITION, CONVENTION AND GOVERNMENT ^7 

spite of the strong opposition on the part of the physical 
force advocates. The missionaries who were sent out of 
the Metropolis to obtain signatures to the National Peti- 
tion were instructed " to refrain from all violent and un- 
constitutional language and not to infringe the law in any 
manner by word or deed." The spirit of enthusiasm that 
pervaded the Convention did not last long, however. Some 
delegates soon tired of formal speeches and grew impatient 
with the counselors of a policy of peaceful waiting. In 
allegiance to the London Democratic Association, they 
created discord within and without the Convention assem- 
bly. Harney was most emphatic in his condemnation of 
the cowardice and imbecility of the Convention and urged 
the people to prepare for the approaching struggle. At 
Smithfield he appeared at an open-air meeting wearing a 
red cap of liberty in imitation of the French Revolution- 
ists. The London Democratic Association, of which he 
was secretary, adopted three resolutions : 

1. That if the Convention did its duty, the Charter would 
be the law of the land in less than a month. 

2. That no delay should take place in the presentation of the 
National Petition. 

3. That every act of injustice and oppression should be 
immediately met by resistance. 

These resolutions were submitted to the Convention on 
the 4th of March and caused several motions to be made 
condemnatory of the conduct of the extreme Chartists. 
One delegate censured Harney for making use of French 
revolutionary expressions and French emblems. Another 
demanded an apology from Harney and his followers, on 
penalty of expulsion, for addressing the resolutions to the 
Convention. Even Bronterre recorded his opinion that the 
Convention must be on guard not to prejudice the govern- 



I5 8 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [158 

ment against the Petition, while Lovett's close friends, 
Hetherington, Cleave, and others, protested against the use 
of all emblems which might compromise the Convention 
and thus injure the cause. In the language of Lovett,. 
Harney and two other delegates " deemed it advisable to 
make the apology required." x It was, however, after a 
lapse of but a few days that the censured agitators suc- 
ceeded in establishing their supremacy. On the nth of 
March, 1839, Harney, O'Connor, Frost, Bronterre, and 
others addressed a crowded meeting which was called under 
the auspices of the Convention, at the Crown and Anchor, 
and at which they publicly attacked the inactivity of the 
Convention and exhorted the Chartists to arm themselves 
for the approaching crisis. Bronterre declared that the 
only reason he did not advise the people to arm themselves 
was because the law did not let him. He was only a his- 
torian, he said, and merely reported the " fact " that all the 
people of Leeds and of Lancashire had procured arms. 
While he could not urge his hearers to do likewise, he was 
certain that the Petition would be helped along, if all the 
people of England followed the example of his friends in 
the North. He accordingly appealed to them to organize, 
to put themselves in such a position of defense that if an 
attempt were made to suspend the laws and the constitu- 
tion of the country, they should be able to send the traitors 
to eternity. The enthusiastic cheers of the audience at 
every allusion to physical force left no doubt that the 
metropolitan workingmen endorsed the sentiments of the 
speakers. 

The speeches stirred up a great deal of hostile criticism 
in the press which provoked three Birmingham delegates 
to tender their resignations " because the Convention was. 

1 Lovett, op. cit., p. 204. 



I59 ] PETITION, CONVENTION AND GOVERNMENT i^g 

not guided by principles of peace, law and order." This 
act on the part of the moral force delegates branded them 
in the eyes of the people as traitors and gave a new impetus 
to the physical force agitation. It was then that the Lon- 
don Democrat was established to launch a systematic cam- 
paign for preparedness and to preach insurrection as the 
only means for the people to obtain the Charter. All legal 
and constitutional efforts inspired little hope for the imme- 
diate success of the National Petition, and the workingmen 
were urged to lose no time in organizing and preparing 
themselves for the coming struggle, " such as the world 
has not yet witnessed." The Chartists were advised to 
inscribe on their banners the mottoes : " Liberty or death ", 
" the People's Charter and no further delay ", " the Peo- 
ple's Charter — peaceably if we can, forcibly if we must ", 
and the people were reminded that their tyrants would 
never concede justice till they were compelled, till they were 
overcome by fire and sword and exterminated from the face 
of the earth. 

The Chartists foresaw the possibility of a prorogation 
of Parliament before the presentation of the Petition on 
the 6th of May, or before the House could be tested 
respecting the Charter. In case of such a contingency, 
Harney supported Bronterre's recommendation that, on 
the day appointed by the Queen's proclamation for a new 
election, the people of each county, city and borough 
should assemble at the proper places and nominate men 
pledged to the Charter. He was certain that the universal 
suffrage candidates would be elected in nineteen out of 
every twenty cases. He realized that the election of repre- 
sentatives without enabling them to take their seats in the 
House of Commons would present " the veriest farce im- 
aginable ". It was, therefore, necessary that each elected 



!6o THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [160 

representative should be furnished with a bodyguard of 
sturdy sans-culottes : 

By the time the whole of the representatives arrived in the 
environs of the metropolis, they would have with them not 
less than a million of men. This would soon settle the matter. 
" The million of men," with their representatives, would en- 
camp for one night on Hampstead-heath, and the following 
morning march upon London, where myriads would hail with 
songs of joy their march through Parliament, safety conduct- 
ing their representatives past the Horse-guards, should the 
shopocratic-elected scoundrels be fools enough to have pre- 
viously seated themselves in the tax-trap. The voice of the 
people crying, " Make way for better men," would scatter 
them like chaff before the wind; or, should they hesitate to 
fly, the job will soon be settled by their being tied neck and 
heels and flung into the Thames. As to resistance on the part 
of the soldiery, the idea is not to be entertained. What army 
could withstand a million of armed men? For, of course, 
every man would come prepared for the worst; and even 
should the tyrants be mad enough to provoke a conflict, can 
the result be doubtful? No; within a week not a despot's 
breath would pollute the air of England. 1 

The missionaries did not carry out the instructions of 
the Convention to refrain from all violent language. Vin- 
cent especially exhorted the people to be prepared to resist 
the government. At several meetings in Welsh towns, he 
called upon the working class to be ready to act after the 
6th of May, and that every hill and valley should be pre- 
pared to send forth its army, if required by the Conven- 
tion. At Newport he concluded his speech with the invo- 
cation : " To your tents, O Israel ! and then with one voice, 
one heart, and one blow, perish the privileged orders! 
Death to the aristocracy! " In Pentonville he attacked the 

1 The London Democrat, April 27, 1839. 



iSi] PETITION, CONVENTION AND GOVERNMENT ^i 

government as an atrocious and cannibal system : it doomed 
men, women and children to toil in factories from morning 
till night in a state approaching starvation, for the purpose 
of increasing the wealth of the aristocracy. 1 

Far from rebuking its missionaries, the Convention 
acted in harmony with the prevailing spirit of the masses 
and, after a long discussion, adopted a resolution to the 
effect " that it was admitted by the highest authorities, be- 
yond the possibility of doubt, that the people had the right 
to use arms." 2 

In the meantime the government kept a vigilant eye on 
the movements of the members of the Convention and the 
active Chartists. Venomous newspaper reports of the 
Chartist meetings provoked the government to introduce a 
wide system of espionage. The spies simulated great de- 
votion to the cause and instigated the masses to " speak 
out " and to " prove to the government that the people were 
in earnest." Zealous to produce proof to the government 
of their usefulness and of their alertness to "discover" 
all Chartist plots, they adopted a favorite scheme of teach- 
ing the credulous workingmen how to destroy property 
and strike terror into the hearts of the " despots ". One 
of these provocateurs, Holyoake writes, produced an 
explosive liquid which, he said, could be poured into the 
sewers and, when ignited, would blow up the whole city of 
London. " This satanic preparation was tried in a cellar 
in Judd Street, while I was taking tea in the back parlor 
above. I did not know at the time of the operation going 
on below, or it might have interfered with my satisfaction 
in the repast on which I was engaged." 3 

1 Cf. The Chartist Riots at Newport, 2nd ed., Newport, 1889, pp. 15- 
16; also The Rise and Fall of Chartism in Monmouthshire, London, 
1840, p. 25. 

2 Lovett, op. cit., p. 205. 

s Holyoake, op. cit., vol. ii, p. 4. 



2^2 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [162 

The activities of magistrate John Frost, the Welsh dele- 
gate to the Convention, caused much public discussion, and 
Lord John Russell was taunted from many quarters for 
the appointment he had made. Russell then sent Frost a 
letter inquiring whether he was a delegate to the Conven- 
tion, as well as whether he had attended a public meeting 
at Pontypool, at which inflammatory language was used, 
and notifying him that such actions, if true, must cause 
his name to be erased from the Commission of the Peace 
for the county of Monmouth. The answer which Frost 
sent to Russell gained him unanimous praise from his col- 
leagues who paid him due tribute at a dinner given in his 
honor in London. His letter, dated at Newport, January 
19, 1839, contained a spirited rebuke of the Secretary of 
State. Its haughty defiance was characteristic of the 
period of unrest. He writes : 1 

In your Lordship's letter of the 16th, there is a mistake. I 
am not a magistrate for the county of Monmouth, but for the 
borough of Newport, in the county of Monmouth. In the 
spring of 1835 the council of the borough recommended me as 
a proper person to be a justice of the peace. I was appointed, 
and I believe that the inhabitants will bear honorable testimony 
as to the manner in which I have performed the duties of that 
office. Whether your Lordship will retain my name, or cause 
it to be erased, is to me a matter of perfect indifference, for I 
set no value on an office dependant for its continuance, not 
according to the mode in which its duties are performed, but 
on the will of a Secretary of State. 

For what does your Lordship think it incumbent to get my 
name erased from the commission of the peace? For attend- 
ing a meeting at Pontypool, on the 1st of January? If the 
public papers can be credited, your Lordship declared that 

1 See Rise and Fall of Chartism in Monmouthshire, London, 1840, 
pp. n-13. 



^3] petition, convention AND GOVERNMENT !63 

such meetings were not only legal but commendable. But 
" violent and inflammatory language was used at that meet- 
ing." . . . There was a time when the Whig Ministry was 
not so fastidious as to violent and inflammatory language 
uttered at public meetings. 

By what authority does your Lordship assume a power over 
conduct of mine unconnected with my office ? By what author- 
ity does your Lordship assign any action of mine, as a private 
individual, as a justification for erasing my name from the 
commission of the peace? Am I to hold no opinion of my 
own, in respect to public matters ? Am I to be prohibited from 
expressing that opinion, if it be unpleasing to Lord J. Russell ? 
If, in expressing that opinion, I act in strict conformity to the 
law, can it be an offence? If I transgress, is not the law 
sufficiently stringent to punish me? It appears from the letter 
of your Lordship that I, if present at a public meeting, should 
be answerable for language uttered by others. If these are to 
be the terms on which Her Majesty's commission of the peace 
are to be holden, take it back again, for surely none but the 
most servile of men would hold it on such terms. 

Is it an offence to be appointed a delegate to convey to the 
constituted authorities the petitions of the people? ... I was 
appointed a justice of the peace to administer the laws within 
the borough of Newport. Was the appointment made, that 
the inhabitants might benefit by the proper exercise of the 
authority intrusted to me? Or was it made to be recalled at 
the will of your Lordship, although the inhabitants might be 
perfectly satisfied with the performance of the duty? Your 
Lordship receives a very large sum of money for holding the 
office of Secretary of State, paid, in part, out of the taxes 
raised on the inhabitants of the borough. Does your Lordship 
owe them no duty? For what is your Lordship invested with 
authority? To be exercised merely at the caprice of your 
Lordship, regardless of the effects that may follow? I have 
served the inhabitants for three years, zealously and gra- 
tuitously, and the opinions which I have formed as to the 
exercise of public authority, teach me that they, and not your 



T.64 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [^4 

Lordship, ought to decide whether I ought to be struck off 
the commission of peace. 

Filling an humble situation in life, I would yield neither to 
your Lordship, nor any of your order, in a desire to see my 
country powerful and prosperous. Twenty years' reading and 
experience have convinced me that the only method to produce 
and secure that state of things is a restoration of the ancient 
constitution. Deeply impressed with this conviction, I have 
labored to obtain the end, by means recognized by the laws 
of my country — petition ; and for this your Lordship thinks I 
ought to be stricken off the commission of the peace ! Violent 
and inflammatory language indeed! I am convinced that in 
my own neighborhood, my attending at public meetings has 
tended to restrain violent language. . . . 

Probably your Lordship is unaccustomed to language of this 
description ; that, my Lord, is a misfortune. Much of evils of 
life proceed from the want of sincerity in those who hold 
converse with men in authority. Simple men like those best 
who prophesy smooth things. . . . 

The Chartists rejoiced at the humiliation which Lord 
Russell received at the hands of one of their leaders. For 
several months they had brooded over their resentment 
against the Secretary of State, not so much on account of 
his suppression of torch-light meetings as on account of 
his offer of arms to any association of the middle class that 
would be formed ostensibly for the protection of life and 
property, but in reality for putting down Chartist assem- 
blies. The policy of Russell, however, was rather vacil- 
lating. The meeting of March nth at the Crown and 
Anchor, at which Frost was in the chair, was the landmark 
for both the terrorists and the government. The systematic 
campaign of the press against the principles of the Charter 
as tending to robbery and destruction of society was turned 
with effective force against the representatives of the gov- 
ernment who were charged with being, in their cowardice, 



j65] PETITION, CONVENTION AND GOVERNMENT ^5 

abettors of sedition. This made Lord Russell cast aside 
the painful attitude of strained indulgence, on the one 
hand, and masqued oppression, on the other. A state of 
open hostility now established itself between the govern- 
ment and the Chartists. The authorities left no doubt as 
to their determination to handle the situation in a disciplin- 
ary way. Russell's order, about the end of March, to strike 
the name of Frost from the Commission of Peace for at- 
tending Chartist meetings, was followed, in April, by the 
indictment of Stephens and the declaration that the Con- 
vention was an illegal body, and, in May, by the arrest in 
London of Vincent who was conveyed to Newport and, 
together with several other Chartists, committed to Mon- 
mouth gaol. The Mayor of Newport had collected evi- 
dence against the young orator and his followers in the 
hope that, if a conviction took place, Chartism in Mon- 
mouthshire " would be reckoned among the things that 
were." 1 The strength of the movement was, however, 
greatly underestimated. Far from being dismayed, the 
Chartists challenged their adversaries on more than one 
occasion. 

On the 6th of May, 1839, the National Petition, con- 
taining about one million two hundred and eighty-three 
thousand signatures, was taken to the residence of Thomas 
Attwood, who had promised to present it to Parliament. 
By that time, however, Attwood' s allegiance to the Char- 
tist cause underwent a marked change. It may have been 
due to the aggressive policy of the Convention or to the 
fact that at all times the issue of paper money was more 
important to him than the People's Charter. Be it as it 
may, he gave little encouragement to the delegation, ex- 
pressing his doubt whether, on account of the expected 

1 Cf. Rise and Fall of Chartism in Monmouthshire, 1840, p. 18. 



!66 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [166 

resignation of Lord Russell from the ministry, he would 
be able to present the Petition in the near future and re- 
fusing to move for leave to bring in a bill entitled the Peo- 
ple's Charter. 

This circumstance, as well as the enmity of the govern- 
ment, made the leaders realize that the Charter would not 
" be the law of the land in less than a month." The Con- 
vention carried O'Connor's motion to adjourn to Birming- 
ham, where the surroundings were thought more favorable 
because of the general excitement which prevailed both on 
account of the conduct of the local authorities in suppress- 
ing public meetings and of Lord Russell's letter to the 
magistrates offering arms to the middle class. On the 13th 
of May the Convention was welcomed in that city by a 
vast assemblage and resumed its sessions in a buoyant 
spirit. On the following day, after some discussion, the 
Manifesto of the General Convention of the Industrious 
Classes was adopted, and ten thousand copies were ordered 
to be printed for circulation. 

The language and the object of the Manifesto render it 
the most remarkable Chartist document. There is no sign 
of the previous overtures to the middle class, and due 
respect is paid to the " menaces of employers " and the 
" power of wealth ". The distinct class interests of the 
working men and women are put in the foreground. Be- 
ginning with the declaration that " the government of Eng- 
land is a despotism and her industrious millions slaves " ; 
that her forms of " justice " are subterfuges for legal 
plunder and class domination; that the " right of the sub- 
ject " is slavery, without the slave's privilege, and that the 
Whigs and the Tories are united in their despotic deter- 
mination to maintain their power and supremacy at any 
risk, the Manifesto continues : 



!67] PETITION, CONVENTION AND GOVERNMENT 167 

Men and women of Britain, will you tamely submit to the 
insult? Will you submit to the incessant toil from birth to 
death, to give in tax and plunder out of every twelve hours' 
labor the proceeds of nine hours to support your idle and in- 
solent oppressors? Will you much longer submit to see the 
greatest blessings of mechanical art converted into the greatest 
curses of social life? — to see children forced to compete with 
their parents, wives with their husbands, and the whole of 
society morally and physically degraded to support the aris- 
tocracies of wealth and title? Will you allow your wives and 
daughters to be degraded; your children to be nursed in 
misery, stultified by toil, and to become the victims of the vice 
our corrupt institutions have engendered? Will you permit 
the stroke of affliction, the misfortunes of poverty, and the in- 
firmities of age to be branded and punished as crimes, and 
give our selfish oppressors an excuse for rending asunder man 
and wife, parent and child, and continue passive observers till 
you and yours become the victims? 

Perish the cowardly feeling; and infamous be the passive 
being who can witness his country's degradation, without a 
struggle to prevent or a determination to remove it! Rather, 
like Sampson, would we cling to the pillars which sustain our 
social fabric, and, failing to base it upon principles of justice, 
fall victims beneath its ruins. Shall it be said, fellow-country- 
men, that four millions of men, capable of bearing arms and 
defending their country against every foreign assailant, allowed 
a few domestic oppressors to enslave and degrade them ? That 
they suffered the constitutional right of possessing arms, to 
defend the constitutional privileges their ancestors bequeathed 
to them, to be disregarded or forgotten till one after another 
they have been robbed of their rights, and have submitted to 
be awed into silence by the bludgeons of policemen ? . . . 

Men of England, Scotland, and Wales, we have sworn with 
your aid to achieve our liberties or die! And in this resolve 
we seek to save our country from a fate we do not desire to 
witness. If you longer continue passive slaves, the fate of 
unhappy Ireland will soon be yours, and that of Ireland more 



^8 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [t88 

degraded still. For, be assured, the joyful hope of freedom 
which now inspires the millions, if not speedily realized, will 
turn into wild revenge. The sickening thought of unrequited 
toil — their cheerless homes — their stunted, starving offspring — 
the pallid partners of their wretchedness — their aged parents 
pining apart in a workhouse — the state of trade presenting to 
their imaginations no brighter prospect — these, together with 
the petty tyranny that daily torments them, will exasperate 
them to destroy what they are denied the enjoyment of. . . . 
Both Whigs and Tories are seeking, by every means in their 
power, to crush our peaceful organization in favor of our 
Charter. They are sending their miscreant spies to urge the 
people into madness; they are arming the rich against the 
poor, and against his fellow-man. . . . We trust, brethren, 
that you will disappoint their malignity, and live to regain our 
rights by other means, — at least, we trust you will not com- 
mence the conflict. We have resolved to obtain our rights, 
" peaceably if we may, forcibly if we must " ; but woe to those 
who begin the warfare with the millions, or who forcibly re- 
strain their peaceful agitation for justice — at one signal they 
will be enlightened to their error, and in one brief contest their 
power will be destroyed. . . . 

The Chartists were called upon to organize simultaneous 
public meetings for the purpose of petitioning the Queen 
" to call good men to her councils ", and, in order to ascer- 
tain " the opinions and determination of the people in the 
shortest possible time ", a series of questions, or " ulterior 
measures ", was to be submitted at each meeting. Remind- 
ing the Chartists that the motto of the Convention was 
Union, Prudence and Energy, and assuring them that after 
ascertaining the expression of organized public opinion 
that body will immediately proceed to carry the will of the 
people into execution, the time for the simultaneous meet- 
ings was limited to the ist of July. 

The " ulterior measures " proposed by the Manifesto and 



l(yg] PETITION, CONVENTION AND GOVERNMENT jfig 

subsequently submitted to the consideration of the simul- 
taneous assemblies were as follows : 

1. Whether they will be prepared, at the request of the Con- 
vention, to withdraw all sums of money they may individually 
or collectively have placed in savings' banks, private banks, or 
in the hands of any person hostile to their just rights ? 

2. Whether, at the same request, they will be prepared im- 
mediately to convert all their paper money into gold and silver ? 

3. Whether, if the Convention shall determine that a sacred 
month will be necessary to prepare the millions to secure the 
charter of their political salvation, they will firmly resolve to 
abstain from their labors during that period, as well as from 
the use of all intoxicating drinks? 

4. Whether, according to their old constitutional right — a 
right which modern legislation would fain annihilate — they 
have prepared themselves with the arms of freemen to defend 
the laws and constitutional privileges their ancestors bequeathed 
to them? 

5. Whether they will provide themselves with Chartist can~ 
didates, so as to be prepared to propose them for their repre- 
sentatives at the next general election ; and if returned by show 
of hands such candidates to consider themselves veritable rep- 
resentatives of the people — to meet in London at a time here- 
after to be determined on ? 

6. Whether they will resolve to deal exclusively with Char- 
tists, and in all cases of persecution rally around and protect 
all those who may suffer in their righteous cause ? 

7. Whether by all and every means in their power they will 
perseveringly contend for the great objects of the People's 
Charter, and resolve that no counter agitation for a less meas- 
ure of justice shall divert them from their righteous object? 

8. Whether the people will determine to obey all the just 
and constitutional requests of the majority of the Convention? 

The " ulterior measures " did not satisfy all the mem- 
bers of the Convention. They were concocted as a compro- 



I j THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [170 

mise program by the various factions. One can easily dis- 
cern the influence of Attwood's followers in the first three 
" measures ". The abstinence proposal was denounced by 
Harney and his friends as savoring of humbug, believing 
as they did that nothing but the extremest measures would 
be of any value. The radicals carried their recommenda- 
tions to ascertain whether the people were ready to resist 
the authorities and to take matters in their hands, to elect 
and seat their own candidates, 1 to boycott opponents by 
dealing exclusively with Chartists, and to protect all who 
may suffer in the cause. Lovett, who, as secretary of the 
Convention, signed the Manifesto, 2 confesses that he " did 
an act of folly in being a party to some of its provisions " , 
but extenuates this " folly ", as it was committed for the 
sake of union and for the love and hope he had in the 
cause. 3 

While the Manifesto counseled not to " commence the 
conilict " , the London Democrat was untiring in its cam- 
paign for insurrection as a " primary measure ". Terror 
was advocated as the only means by which the " aristocratic 
and shopocratic factions " could be induced to do justice to 
the people. The idea of a " bloodless triumph " was dis- 
pensed with as mere " chatter and nonsense ", as the " ven- 
geance of blood is the only means of striking terror to the 
hearts of tyrants, especially the relentless tyrants of Eng- 
land — the callous-hearted money-mongers." 

It won't be the organized masses that will carry the victory. 
Oh, no! That depends upon the poor, outcast, friendless 
beings who have no home to go to, no food to satisfy the 

1 Cf. supra, p. 159. 

3 The Manifesto was signed on behalf of the Convention by Hugh 
Craig, Chairman, and William Lovett, Secretary. 
3 Cf. Lovett, op. cit., pp. 208-9. 



I7I ] PETITION, CONVENTION AND GOVERNMENT iy L 

cravings of hunger, no covering to keep them warm, or even 
to make them look decent, no wherewithal to render their 
lives worth preserving. The battle . . • will be fought and 
won by those whom poverty and degradation have rendered 
outcasts from society — by those who hide themselves from the 
gaze of the world, through the cruel operation of unjust and 
partially-executed laws. The battle will be fought and won 
by the brigands, as they are called. As for premature out- 
breaks, indeed, a great deal of stuff and nonsense has been 
rung in the ears of the people concerning popular commotions. 
Is the present movement a real one? If it is, then too many 
outbreaks cannot take place. Premature outbreaks, as they 
are called, are only fatal to sham movements; but, at a time 
like this, the more the better. . . . What are outbreaks? Are 
they not ebullitions of popular feeling? Then if numerous 
outbreaks take place, does it not prove that the people are 
ready ? Then, hurrah for a leader ! Hurrah for the man who 
has the energy and courage to unfurl the banner of freedom 
and lead the people on to victory or death. . . . Government 
looks upon all parties in the Chartist ranks alike. Neither 
party can find favor in the eyes of exclusive legislators. Sham 
radicals, timid radicals, trading radicals, as well as honest and 
determined democrats, will all alike be persecuted and crushed 
if " the step " be not now taken — if the blow be not now 
struck. . . . We are all embarked in the same vessel, and a 
shipwreck would be as fatal to the one party as the other. 
Let honest men then unite, and the victory is safe, sure and 
speedy. 1 

The relations of mutual distrust between the government 
and the Chartists became ever more pronounced. Alarmed 
at the enthusiastic reception which the Birmingham peo- 
ple accorded the Convention, the government complied with 
the request of the local authorities and sent a number of 

1 The London Democrat, May 18, 1839. Cf. also issues of May 25, 
et seq. 



I72 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [172 

the London police force to that city. This, in its turn, 
created ill-feeling in the assembly, and it was due primarily 
to the timely warnings of O'Connor and Bronterre not to 
carry arms to the meetings that the " People's Parliament " 
was saved from police intervention. 

On the 17th of May the Convention adjourned to the 
1st of July after having passed Bronterre's resolutions : 1st, 
That peace, law, and order shall continue to be the motto 
of the Convention, so long as the " oppressors " will act 
in the same spirit towards the people; otherwise, it shall 
be deemed a sacred duty of the people " to meet force with 
force and repel assassination by justifiable homicide " ; 2nd, 
That the Chartists who may attend the simultaneous meet- 
ings shall avoid carrying offensive weapons about their per- 
sons and treat as enemies of the cause any person who may 
exhibit such weapons, or who " by any other act of folly 
or wickedness, should provoke a breach of the peace " ; 
3rd, That the officers who may have charge of the arrange- 
ments for the simultaneous meetings shall in all cases con- 
sult with the local authorities; and 4th, That should the 
authorities be instigated by the " oppressors in the upper 
and middle ranks " to assail the people with armed force, 
the " oppressors " would be held responsible, " in person 
and property, for any detriment that may result to the 
people from such atrocious instigation ". 

The simultaneous meetings were held in a great number 
of cities, towns, and villages with distinct success. Conser- 
vative estimates of the assemblies at some places were in 
the hundreds of thousands. Thus the demonstration at 
Kersall Moor was reported to have been made up of not 
less than three hundred thousand; at West Riding of two 
hundred thousand; at Glasgow of one hundred and thirty 
thousand, and at Newcastle-on-Tyne of one hundred thou- 
sand persons. The meetings were addressed by members 



^o] PETITION, CONVENTION AND GOVERNMENT iy$ 

of the Convention, including O'Connor, Bronterre, Har- 
ney, Frost, and other Chartist celebrities. In several in- 
stances the demonstrations were held in defiance of the 
authorities, who not only refused the requests of the ar- 
rangement committees to convene the meetings, but caused 
proclamations to be posted warning the people against at- 
tending illegal gatherings. Everything went off peace- 
ably, although the speakers were by no means timid in the 
expression of their sentiments. At the West Riding demon- 
stration, O'Connor declared that if the "tyrants" attempted 
to put down the meeting by force, the people should repel 
attack by attack. Bronterre did not mince words at any of 
the meetings, always impressing the people with the neces- 
sity of being prepared to do something effective for uni- 
versal suffrage. He upbraided the people for supporting 
" the whole tribe of landholders, fundholders, and two 
millions of menials and kept mistresses, together with one 
hundred thousand prostitutes in London alone ". The 
speeches by the other agitators were in similar vein. 

The Convention reassembled at Birmingham on the ist 
of July and immediately took up the question of adjourn- 
ing to London, as the Birmingham authorities were evi- 
dently determined to interfere with its business, having 
sworn in three hundred special constables that very day. 
Another reason for the removal was the alleged precarious 
condition of the Bank of England, which made it strategi- 
cally advisable for the Convention to be in close touch 
with the situation in order to avail itself of the embarrass- 
ment on the part of the government. On the next day, 
after a long discussion, it was agreed that the sessions be 
removed to London on the ioth of that month. 

The reports of the delegates on the results of the simul- 
taneous meetings showed that, notwithstanding the popular 
enthusiasm for the Charter, the " ulterior measures " were 



! 74 THE CHARTIST MO VEMENT [ 1 74 

not approved en bloc by the people. The " sacred month " 
proposition met with decided opposition in all parts of the 
country. There seemed to be diversity of opinion on this 
question even among the leaders. In spite of that, how- 
ever, unanimous resolutions were adopted approving ex- 
clusive dealing with Chartists, a run on the banks, absolute 
abstinence from excisable drinks, and, in view of the ex- 
pected division on the National Petition which was to take 
place in Parliament on the 12th of July, it was decided that 
the members of the Convention meet on the 13th, " for 
the purpose of appointing a day when the sacred month 
shall commence, if the Charter has not previously become 
the law of the land ". 



CHAPTER XI 
The Wrestling Forces 

Though tyrants and minions reject our prayer, 
And sneer at the evils we patiently bear, 
And laugh us to scorn when we humbly ask, — 
How soon they may have another task! 
At last a smothered fire forth may break, 
And a nation in knowledge of freedom awake. 
— Alfred Owen Fennell. 

The simultaneous meetings and the subsequent adoption 
by the Convention of the " ulterior measures " were fol- 
lowed by a new series of events, in which both the Chartists 
and the government displayed a mood to fight to the bitter 
end, and which culminated in temporary victory for the 
latter. 

The first serious encounter between the people and the 
authorities took place on the 4th of July, 1839, at Birming- 
ham. Since the days of the agitation for the Reform Bill, 
the people had been accustomed to assemble in vast multi- 
tudes in the Bull Ring, where they not only aired their 
grievances but also listened to the reading of newspapers 
and discussed political events. The simultaneous meetings 
struck terror to the hearts of the middle class, and the 
mayor undertook to restrain the masses from holding public 
meetings in the city, and particularly in the popular Ring. 
The resentment of the workingmen against this infringe- 
ment upon their rights was on a par with their hostility 
towards the newly-introduced metropolitan police. Never- 
theless, no open conflict occurred until the mayor attempted 
to enforce his proclamation. On the evening stated, a squad 
i7S] 17s 



I7 6 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [ I7 6 

of the metropolitan police, headed by the mayor and a 
magistrate and supported by several detachments of dra- 
goons, invaded the Ring where an assembly of workingmen 
listened to the reading of a newspaper, and, without any 
provocation on the part of the people, commenced an indis- 
criminate attack. In the confusion, men, women, and chil- 
dren were thrown down and trampled upon, the police 
belaboring them right and left. One man had his teeth 
knocked out, and several were carried away with broken 
heads and arms and other severe injuries. After the first 
moments of panic, the people rallied their strength and 
compelled the police to flee. But the latter soon returned, 
reinforced, and renewed the attack. The mayor then read 
the Riot Act, ordered the dragoons to disperse the crowds, 
and placed military guards at all the avenues leading to the 
Bull Ring in order to prevent any new gathering there. 
The fight lasted from nine to half -past ten in the evening. 
About midnight the dispersed crowds gathered again, sing- 
ing the Chartist anthem, " Fall, Tyrants, Fall," and amidst 
deafening cheers proceeded for Holloway Head, in the out- 
skirts of the city, where they swore vengeance against the 
assailants. They then marched to St. Thomas's Church, 
where they tore down about seventy feet of railing and 
turned it into weapons. A rush to the scene of the con- 
flict, which might have proven fatal to many, was averted 
by two popular members of the Convention, Dr. Taylor 
and McDouall, who induced the incensed people to throw 
down their improvised arms. 

A spirit of terror and vengeance pervaded the city, the 
fury of the people clashing with the severity of the author- 
ities. About six o'clock the following morning, Dr. Tay- 
lor, together with ten other Chartists, was committed to 
Warwick jail. It goes without saying that the " People's 
Parliament " deemed it its duty to express indignation over 



I j j] THE WRESTLING FORCES ijj 

the conduct of the authorities, and the following resolu- 
tions were adopted and ordered to be placarded on the walls 
of the city : x 

i. That this Convention is of opinion that a wanton, 
flagrant, and unjust outrage has been made upon the people of 
Birmingham, by a blood-thirsty and unconstitutional force 
from London, acting under the authority of men, who, when 
out of office, sanctioned and took part in the meetings of the 
people; and now, when they share in the public plunder, seek 
to keep the people in social and political degradation. 

2. That the people of Birmingham are the best judges of 
their own right to meet in the Bull Ring or elsewhere; have 
their own feelings to consult respecting outrage given, and are 
the best judges of their own power and resources to obtain 
justice. 

3. That the summary and despotic arrest of Dr. Taylor, 
our respected colleague, affords another convincing proof of 
all absence of justice in England, and clearly shows that there 
is no security for lives, liberty, or property, till the people have 
some control over the laws they are called upon to obey. 

No sooner had the resolutions been posted about the town 
than the printer was arrested. He was, however, liberated 
immediately after naming John Collins, a Birmingham local 
preacher and a member of the Convention, as the person 
who had ordered the printing. Lovett, who, as secretary, 
had signed the resolutions, and Collins were speedily 
arrested and brought up for examination. Both refused 
to incriminate any other person and were committed for 
trial at the next assizes. Pending the production of un- 
usually high bail of £1000 each, they were kept for nine 
days in the county jail of Warwick, the magistrates rais- 

1 See The Trial of William Lovett for a Seditious Libel, London, 2d 
edition. Cf. also Hansard, op. cit., vol. xlix, 1839, pp. 109-10, and pp. 
375-6. 



178 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [ l7 8 

ing every possible objection to the bail offered, and were 
subjected to the discipline and indignities of convicted 
felons. 1 

The ire of the masses was intensified by the proclamation 
of martial law and the conduct of the police, who paraded 
the streets and dealt brutally with every person that aroused 
their suspicion. Far from intimidating the workingmen, 
the wholesale arrests provoked utmost defiance. Instigated 
by advocates of physical force, 2 large crowds met daily at 
Hollo way Head and other places, serious collisions with 
the police and military forces resulting. The desultory 
fights continued for a whole week, and culminated in the 
second Bull Ring riot on the 15th of July. A number of 
houses belonging to men who had made themselves obnox- 
ious to the masses were set afire. In their fury, the people 
entered shops, carried the goods to the Bull Ring, and com- 
mitted them to the devouring flames. The police and the 
military were utterly helpless. But not for a minute did 
the rioters forget the real object of their revolt. 

Amid all these desperate proceedings, — Gammage testifies, — 
the people exhibited a disinterestedness worthy of all imita- 
tion. Not even the most costly goods for a moment tempted 
their cupidity. They even trod under foot the splendid silver 
plate of Mr. Horton, proving that, however great their pro- 
vocation, plunder was not their object. They were at war 
with the ruling classes, but they scorned to avail themselves 
of the common privileges of warriors. That they had become 
desperate was not their fault; their vices belonged to their 

1 Referring to these indignities, Lord Brougham stated and reiterated 
in the House of Lords that the facts were verified " by a most re- 
spectable individual, whose cross-examination he would trust as much 
as that of any man not connected with the legal profession." See Han- 
sard, op. cit., vol. xlix, pp. 438-9 and 984-5. 

2 Holyoake writes that he saw Harney "daily in the riot-week stand- 
ing at the door openly." See Holyoake, op. cit., vol. i, p. 85. 



179] THE WRESTLING FORCES l7 g 

oppressors, their virtues were their own. Meetings continued 
to be held, to which the people flocked in crowds. The process 
of trade was stopped, and a large number of gentry fled the 
town; even the valiant mayor was terrified into flight. 1 

The conduct of the metropolitan police and the conse- 
quent riots in Birmingham were the objects of parliamen- 
tary enquiries in both Houses, 2 in which the government 
was severely criticized. The physical-force agitators also 
did their best to kindle the passions of the people. Public 
meetings were held in a large number of cities, and hundreds 
of resolutions were adopted and printed in the Chartist 
papers, charging the authorities with high treason to the 
Constitution. The Northampton resolution threatened the 
Whig government that it would " be held responsible for 
the consequences, even if the suffering people . . . should 
leave at midnight their miserable homes in a blaze, and the 
destructive element communicating with everything around, 
reduce to one common ruin and desolation the mansions of 
the rich and the hovels of the poor." 3 

In the meantime, amidst these disquieting circumstances, 
the Parliamentary battle for the National Petition was lost 
by Attwood and his supporters. 4 On the 12th of July, Art- 
wood brought forward his motion that the House resolve 
itself into a committee for considering the prayer of the 
National Petition which he had presented on the 14th of 
June. The anticipation of pungent discussion attracted 
large crowds. According to Disraeli, " the Tories, suppos- 
ing Chartism would be only a squabble between the Whigs 
and Radicals, were all away, while the ministerial benches 

1 Gammage, op. cit., p. 135. 

2 See Hansard, op. cit., vol. xlix, pp. 100-111, 410-411 and 441-442. 

3 Gammage, op. cit., p. 138. 

* See Hansard, op. cit., vol. xlix, pp. 220-256. 



^o THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [i%q 

were crowded — all the ministers, all the Whigs, and all the 
Radicals " in their seats. 1 

True to himself, Attwood expounded the Petition from 
the point of view not only of the working class, but also of 
the merchants, manufacturers, tradesmen and farmers. He 
based his appeal on ancient practice of common justice and 
humanity, as well as actual grounds of utility. Alluding to 
the petitioners as the elite of the working class, he cautioned 
the House, however, not to treat the prayer as representing 
the sentiments merely of that class, for he was certain that 
the feelings of nine out of every ten persons of the middle 
class were in full accord with the objects of the Petition. 
There was, no doubt, " some property " left in England, 
but, generally speaking, the merchant and the manufacturer, 
being on the brink of bankruptcy, were not less discontented 
than: the laborers. The people were desirous of a change, 
and nothing would satisfy them but some large and gen- 
erous measure. This measure was proposed in the People's 
Charter. He had always deprecated violence, but he con- 
sidered it his duty to tell the House that " if the hands of 
the people were not to be set free from their trammels, if 
they were not to have the benefit of earning their bread by 
the sweat of their brow, and hundreds of thousands were 
compelled to beg for labor and then to be denied bread, — it 
was his rooted conviction that the people of England would 
not submit to it and that there was no army in the world 
capable of putting them down." 

The philanthropic but characterless speech of Attwood 
made the reply of his principal opponent, Lord Russell, ap- 
pear far more convincing. As the Lord viewed the matter, 
the whole movement had been promoted by persons who 
had been going through the country and, in the most revo- 

1 See Lord Beaconsfield's Correspondence with his Sister, 1832-1852, 
edited by Ralph Disraeli, 2d edition, 1886, p. 132. 



jgi] THE WRESTLING FORCES ^i 

lutionary language, " not exceeded in violence and atrocity 
in the worst times of the French Revolution," exhorted 
the people to subvert the laws by force of arms. Having 
scored on this point of fact which no one could deny, but 
offering no explanation for the generous welcome which the 
people had accorded those agitators, he proceeded to de- 
molish the fundamental principle of the Charter. He 
scorned the idea that universal suffrage or any legal pro- 
vision relating to representation would establish general 
welfare " in a country depending very much upon com- 
merce and manufactures " and prevent that state of low 
wages and consequent distress which occur in every com- 
munity of that kind. Even the United States, where the 
people enjoyed universal suffrage, had not been altogether 
free from alternate fluctuations from prosperity to distress, 
notwithstanding the immense tracts of wild fertile land in 
which the population that could not subsist in towns might 
easily find refuge and a mode of living. He denied that 
the Petition which had only about one million two hundred 
thousand signatures was a national petition and that it rep- 
resented the sentiments and opinions of a majority of the 
people. On the contrary, the great majority of the nation, 
including the working class, would be alarmed at the pros- 
pect of having the principles of the Charter enacted into 
law. He further referred to the increase of small deposits 
in savings' banks as proving the absolute want of truth in 
the statement of the Petition that the home of the arti- 
ficer was desolate and the manufactory deserted. He 
did not deny that there were many industrious and sober 
workingmen whose means were exceedingly scanty and 
whose situation could not be looked upon without com- 
miseration. But he was utterly relentless in showing up 
the " complete delusion " of those who believed that the 
adoption of universal suffrage would place the laborers in 



1 82 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [^2 

a state of prosperity. Referring to Attwood's pet theory 
that the alteration in the standard of value and an increase 
in the quantity of paper money would assure general pros- 
perity, the speaker did not fail to point out, not without 
ill-concealed sarcasm, that the Chartist leaders and members 
of the General Convention had denounced the influence of 
paper money as one of the most abominable weapons in the 
hands of their oppressors. He stated and reiterated his 
opinion that the Petition contained the exhortations chiefly 
of " very designing and insidious persons, wishing not the 
prosperity of the people," but seeking to arouse discord and 
confusion, " to produce a degree of misery, the consequence 
of which would be to create a great alarm that would be 
fatal, not only to the constitution as it now exists, not only 
to those rights which are now said to be monopolized by a 
particular class, but fatal to any established government." 

Disraeli put it remarkably well when in the course of his 
retort to Russell he remarked that " the noble Lord had 
answered the speech of the honorable member for Birming- 
ham, but he had not answered the Chartists." It was his 
opinion that Attwood had made a very dexterous speech " in 
favor of the middle classes," but that actual facts led to a 
very different conclusion. He found among the Chartists 
the greatest hostility to the middle classes. Stanch Tory 
that he was, he discovered that the people " complained only 
of the government by the middle classes. They made no 
attack on the aristocracy — none on the Corn Laws — but 
upon the newly-enfranchised constituency, not on the old — 
upon that peculiar constituency which was the basis of the 
noble Lord's government." Not committing himself on the 
real issues of the Charter, he called to account the Minister 
of the Crown for his nonchalant attitude towards the " re- 
markable social movement " and for despising the one mil- 
lion two hundred and eighty thousand fellow-subjects who 



I 8 3 ] THE WRESTLING FORCES 183 

had signed the Petition because of their discontent with the 
existing conditions. He saw " social insurrection " at the 
very threshold, and, much as he disapproved of the Char- 
ter, he sympathized with the Chartists, who formed a great 
body of his countrymen and who labored under great 
grievances. 1 

The debate, in which several other members participated, 
concluded with the division of forty-eight votes in favor 
as over against two hundred and thirty-seven in opposition 
to Attwood's motion. 

This division greatly disheartened the Chartist leaders. 
The Convention, which had reconvened in London on the 
10th of July, fully realized how serious a blow the cause had 
received, as well as its own impotence which resulted from 
the arrest and resignation of many of its members. On the 
day after the defeat of Attwood's motion, being of the 
opinion that it was utterly useless to expect anything from 
the House by way of petitioning, and that the people would 
not get liberty until they took it, the question of a general 
strike, or a sacred month, was again brought up for con- 
sideration. After lengthy discussions, a resolution was 
finally passed on the 16th that it was the opinion of the 
Convention " that the people should work no longer after 
the 1 2th of August next, unless the power of voting for 
members of parliament, to protect their labor, is guaran- 
teed to them." This resolution was, however, subsequently 
rescinded on the motion of Bronterre, who stated that strict 
enquiries of the leaders in various districts had convinced 
him that the people were not prepared to carry out a gen- 
eral strike. Letters to the same effect were also read from 
Frost and other leaders. The painful consciousness of lack 

1 Disraeli himself called this " a capital speech " and seemed to have 
taken pride in the fact that the Whig government did not like it. See 
the same letter quoted above. 



1 84 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT ^84 

of authority on the part of the Convention was revealed in 
the following resolution which was introduced by Bronterre 
and carried by a vote of twelve against six, the remaining 
seven members present refusing to commit themselves : 1 

That while the Convention continues to be unanimously of 
opinion that nothing short of a general strike, or suspension 
of labor throughout the country, will ever suffice to re-estab- 
lish the rights and liberties of the industrious classes, we never- 
theless cannot take upon ourselves the responsibility of dictat- 
ing the time or circumstances of such strike, believing that we 
are incompetent to do so for the following reasons : 

1st: Because our numbers have been greatly reduced by the 
desertion, absence, and arbitrary arrests of a large portion of 
our members. 

2nd: Because great diversity of opinion prevails amongst 
the remaining members, as to the practicability of a general 
strike, in the present state of trade in the manufacturing 
districts. 

3rd : Because a similar diversity of opinion seems to prevail 
out of doors, amongst our constituents and the working classes 
generally. 

4th: Because, under these circumstances, it is more than 
doubtful whether an order from the Convention for a general 
holiday would not be a failure. 

5th : Because, while we firmly believe that an universal 
strike would prove the salvation of the country, we are at the 
same time equally convinced that a partial strike would only 
entail the bitterest privations and sufferings on all parties who 
take part in it, and, in the present exasperated state of public 
feeling, not improbably lead to confusion and anarchy. 

6th: Because, although it is the duty of the Convention to 
participate in all the people's dangers, it is no part of our duty 
to create danger unnecessarily, either for ourselves or others. 

1 Gammage, op. cit., p. 146. 



l%$] THE WRESTLING FORCES ^5 

To create it for ourselves would be folly — to create it for 
others would be a crime. 

7th: Because we believe that the people themselves are the 
only fit judges of their right and readiness to strike work, as 
also of their own resources and capabilities of meeting the 
emergencies which such an event would entail. Under these 
circumstances, we decide that a committee of three be ap- 
pointed to reconsider the vote of the 16th instant, and to sub- 
stitute for it an address, which shall leave to the people them- 
selves to decide whether they will or will not commence the 
sacred month on the 12th of August, at the same time explain- 
ing the reasons for adopting such a course, and pledging the 
Convention to co-operate with the people in whatever measures 
they may deem necessary to their safety and emancipation. 

The committee provided for in the resolution was ex- 
tended to five members, and included Bronterre and O'Con- 
nor. The evidence collected with reference to the expedi- 
ency of a general strike convinced them that such a step 
would be fatal to the movement, and they unanimously 
recommended the abandonment of the project of a sacred 
month. On the 6th of August a resolution to the same 
effect, moved by Bronterre and seconded by O'Connor, was 
accordingly passed by the General Council of the Con- 
vention, recommending at the same time the cessation of 
work for two or three days " in order to devote the whole 
of that time to solemn processions and solemn meetings." 
The resolution embodied a strong appeal to all the trades 
to cooperate as united bodies in making a grand national 
moral demonstration on the 12th of August, as otherwise 
" it will be impossible to save the country from a revolu- 
tion of blood, which after enormous sacrifices of life and 
property will terminate in the Utter subjection of the work- 
ing people to the monied murderers of society." 

The lack of organization and centralized leadership was: 



1 86 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [j86 

keenly felt at this critical period, and the " national holi- 
day " turned out a complete fiasco, causing some disturb- 
ances in several towns, but generally unobserved throughout 
the country. Its original self-confidence and aggressiveness 
having disappeared, the Convention could hardly expect to 
have its mandates respected by the Chartists at large. The 
" People's Parliament " thus lost its raison d'etre. Bron- 
terre's motion on the 6th of September for the dissolution of 
the body, however, met stringent opposition, and the mem- 
bers being equally divided — eleven against eleven — it was 
carried only by the deciding vote of the chairman. The 
division was by no means on party lines, some of the ex- 
treme revolutionists voting with the most devoted followers 
of Lovett. 

The dissolution of the Convention came at a time when 
the government policy of persecution and terror had as- 
sumed unparalleled proportions. Hundreds of Chartists 
had been arrested and tried for sedition, and no relaxation 
was in view. Severe sentences were imposed on national 
and local leaders, in accordance with the theory of the 
Attorney-General that there was danger in allowing those 
men of talent to be at large. The government first showed 
its mettle on the 5th and 6th of August, at the trial of 
Lovett and Collins for seditious libel. The attack on the 
Bull Ring assembly had been made, as Lovett said in his 
defence, " the subject of reprehension and censure from 
one extremity of the kingdom to another." The public en- 
quiry of the Town Council of Birmingham showed that the 
universal condemnation was well founded. In its resolu- 
tion the Council used practically the same terms for which 
Lovett and Collins were tried. The enquiry " proved that 
a brutal and bloody attack had been made upon the people 
of Birmingham, and that it was their opinion that if the 
police had not attacked the people, no disorder would have 



^7] THE WRESTLING FORCES 187 

occurred, and they considered the riot was incited by the 
London police." l 

Notwithstanding these facts, the Government did its 
utmost to convict Lovett and his colleague, ostensibly for 
the resolutions on the Bull-Ring outrage but in reality for 
the role which these victims had played in the General Con- 
vention. The prosecutor dwelt at length on the document 
which Lovett had signed by order of the Convention "with 
all the form and solemnity of a proclamation by Her Maj- 
esty Queen Victoria," and said bluntly that " the Attorney- 
General would have neglected his duty if he had not selected 
for prosecution Mr. Lovett, who was a man of very con- 
siderable powers. He was a man who, if he willed to do ill, 
had the capacity to do it." 2 The men selected to serve on 
the jury were decidedly hostile to the defendants, two of 
them having previously avowed their conviction that " all 
Chartists ought to be hanged." The objection of Lovett 
to those men was of no avail. Collins was defended by 
Sergeant Goulburn, a prominent Tory, who saw in his task, 
as he expressed it, " a glorious opportunity of having a 
slap at the Whigs." Lovett conducted his own defence, 
disregarding the adage quoted to him by his friends that 
" he who defends himself has a fool for his client." He 
delivered a masterly address to the jury in a manner which 
strongly contrasted with the political speech of the profes- 
sional advocate Goulburn. Surveying the history and the 
causes that had led to the Chartist movement, he asserted 
in a dignified and convincing way the constitutional right 
of public meetings, of free discussion, and of public peti- 
tioning. The Chartist movement, as all other movements 
in favor of the oppressed, necessarily occasioned great un- 

1 Lovett, op. cit., p. 220. 

2 The Trial of William Lovett for a Seditious Libel, 2d edition, Lon- 
don, pp. 5 and 19. 



1 88 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [^88 

easiness among those who would be deprived of unjust 
power and corrupt privilege. Far greater culpability was 
on the side of those who instigated the Bull Ring disorder 
than on the part of the people who merely repulsed the fla- 
grant and unconstitutional attack. The resolutions which 
he had signed were perfectly justified by the circumstances. 
He refuted the charge of criminal intention on his part, 
and quoted many authorities, political and legal, to substan- 
tiate his arguments as to the lack of guilt from a technical, 
as well as from a moral, point of view. In its comments 
on the trial, the Morning Chronicle of August 8, 1839, said : 

The speeches of Mr. Sergeant Goulburn, in defence of John 
Collins, and William Lovett in his own defence, present an 
edifying contrast of tone and temper — of taste and judgment. 
The learned sergeant's argument, had he made it out, could 
have little profited his client, or served the ends of justice. 
Had that of Mr. Lovett been better supported by facts, it must 
have secured his acquittal. The one is a misplaced ebullition 
of party virulence; the other a temporate and talented plead- 
ing, which elicited strong commendation from the counsel for 
the prosecution. And yet the one of these men, independently 
of his professional standing, was long deemed one of the 
principal supporters of his party in the House of Commons, 
while the other has not even a voice in the election of a repre- 
sentative to sit in that House. Is it strange that Mr. Lovett 
should be a discontented man ? We condemn the language for 
which he has been convicted; we should also condemn him 
were he satisfied to belong to what Mr. Hume emphatically 
calls the " slave class." His defence at least demonstrates 
his qualification for the franchise. 

Lovett' s appeal for a favorable verdict was an impas- 
sioned plea for the rights of man. But it fell on deaf ears. 
It took the jury but two or three minutes of deliberation to 
return a verdict of " guilty," and the defendants were each 



!89] THE WRESTLING FORCES T gg 

sentenced to twelve months' imprisonment. This singular 
victory of the government prosecutor was followed by a 
number of others. The prediction of the terrorists came 
true, and the authorities looked " upon all parties in the 
Chartist ranks alike." Adherents of either wing were 
seized and punished severely for most trivial offences. 
Even Stephens, who at his trial, on the 15th of August, re- 
pudiated all radicalism, was sentenced to imprisonment for 
a period of eighteen months. Four Chartists were sen- 
tenced to death for participation in the Bull Ring outbreak, 
and it was only after strong representations to the govern- 
ment that their punishment was commuted to transporta- 
tion for life. Within a very short period there was hardly 
a leader who was not committed to> jail or not bound to 
appear for trial. 

The breaking-up of the Convention did not in the least 
affect the mood of the ardent supporters of the Charter. 
Public meetings and open demonstrations gave place to 
more dangerous vehicles of agitation within narrow circles 
of revengeful conspirators. The ill-feeling of the work- 
ingmen grew ever more ominous because of the inexorable 
rigor and discipline to which the Chartist prisoners were 
subjected. Lovett and Collins, the least offensive of the 
agitators, soon found out that it was impossible for them 
to preserve their health on the kind of food allowed to them 
and begged, but in vain, to be permitted to purchase a little 
tea, sugar and butter, and occasionally a small quantity of 
meat. The magistrates also refused to allow them, without 
specific authority from the Secretary of State, the use of 
writing materials and books. Petitions and memorials in 
their favor were presented by the Working Men's Associa- 
tion, the people of Birmingham, Francis Place, and mem- 
bers of Parliament. But, as Lovett states, whenever the 
magistrates were applied to for any little mitigation of their 



190 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [190 

severities, "they invariably contended that they had no 
power without the sanction of the Secretary of State; and 
when he was memorialized, he referred us to the visiting 
magistrates." x Other Chartists, without the powerful in- 
fluence exerted on behalf of Lovett and his colleague, were 
entirely at the mercy of the wrathful prison authorities, 
and some of the victims subsequently died in jail from dis- 
eases contracted there. 

The policy of retaliation pursued by the government 
towards the Chartist prisoners caused particular resentment 
in the case of Henry Vincent, the idol of the Welsh miners, 
who was tried on the 2d of August, and sentenced to im- 
prisonment in Monmouth county jail for a period of twelve 
months. The open hostility of the jury, one of whom had 
been heard to declare that he would give nine-pence to buy 
a halter for hanging the defendant without judge or jury, 
and the severe punishment, caused much acrimony against 
the authorities. The treatment of the prisoner like a com- 
mon felon still more irritated his admirers. Frost himself, 
on the 28th of September, wrote to a former colleague, a 
magistrate of the county, exhorting him to obtain a miti- 
gation of Vincent's treatment. All remonstrances and pro- 
tests, however, were of no avail. It was then that the 
Welsh Chartists conceived the idea of releasing Vincent by 
force and began to perfect plans which culminated in the 
Newport Riot of November 4, 1839, when thousands of 
men " rushed like a torrent from the hills," armed with the 
gun, the pike, and the bludgeon, " to lay in ruins the com- 
mercial emporium of their county." 

1 Lovett, op. cit., pp. 229-231. 



CHAPTER XII 

The Newport Riot 

The stories of the events leading to the Welsh rising 
are utterly conflicting. The biographer of John Frost de- 
nies the existence of any previous plan of organization : 

Those who have said that Mr. Frost was long engaged in 
organizing the people for the Newport outbreak, must here- 
after hold their peace, or be content to have attached to them 
the imputation of uttering against a man who has it not in 
power to defend himself, an injurious allegation, which there 
exists no evidence to establish . . . The gathering on the eve 
of the riots had no direct object laid down, and that, until a 
very few hours previous to their meeting, the assembly was 
not even agreed upon. 1 

Lovett, on the other hand, gives what seems to be a 
more authentic account, obtained " from a person who took 
an active part in matters pertaining to it." It appears that, 
having failed in his endeavors on behalf of Vincent, Frost 
came to London and confided to two or three members of 
the Convention his great difficulty in restraining the Welsh 
Chartists from attempting to release the prisoner by force. 
One of the conferees then gave assurance that if the Welsh 
effected a rising in favor of Vincent, the people of York- 
shire and Lancashire would join in a rising for the Charter. 
The parties decided not to take any steps before consulting 
the local leaders in their respective districts. Shortly after- 
wards a meeting was held at Heckmondwick which was 

1 The Life of John Frost, Esq., London, 1840, p. 7. 
191] I9i 



I9 2 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [ig 2 

attended by about forty delegates, including three members 
of the Convention, and which expressed a determination to 
aid the intended rising in Wales by a simultaneous outbreak 
in the North. O'Connor was requested by a special York- 
shire delegate to lead them, and was apparently mis- 
understood by the latter, who reported the leader's readi- 
ness to head the rising. Finding that the people were ini 
earnest, he immediately sent one representative to York- 
shire and Lancashire and another to Wales to caution the 
leaders against the rising. When found by O'Connor's 
envoy, Frost informed him that the message came too late, 
that the people were resolved on releasing Vincent from 
prison, and that he might as well blow his own brains out 
as try to oppose them or shrink back. He urged him to go 
back to the North and inform the leaders of the Welsh 
preparations. The riot, however, was precipitated before 
any outside aid could be rendered. 1 

The activities of Frost before the outbreak in no way 
tended to allay the spirit of strife. His last public 
letter, dated at Newport, October 22, 1839, and addressed 
to the farmers and tradesmen of Monmouthshire, assumes 
particular significance in the light of the subsequent tragic 
insurrection. Assuring his " fellow-countrymen " that, un- 
less the Charter be speedily enacted, " there will be no 
security for person or property," the author seeks to im- 
press the people with the realization of the cause of such 
unsaf ety : 

In all countries, where great discontent has existed, there 

1 Cf. Lovett, op. cit., pp. 239-241. In his enmity towards O'Connor, 
Lovett never fails to impeach the conduct and motives of the latter. 
In this case, he insinuates that O'Connor misleadingly induced "the 
poor fellow," the Yorkshire delegate, to believe that he would head the 
insurrection, as well as that he " set about to render the outbreak in- 
effectual." 



I93 ] THE NEWPORT RIOT 193 

always must have been a cause, and that cause always was the 
oppression and cruelty of men in authority. What is it which 
has rendered the laboring classes of this country so discon- 
tented? What has produced that deep and powerful feeling 
which a spark would now ignite from one end of the country 
to the other? A deep sense of wrong — a thorough convic- 
tion of the injustice with which they are treated. Their labor 
is taken from them by the means of the law ; it is given to a 
set of idle and dissolute men and women ; those who produce 
not, are clothed in purple and fine linen, and fare sumptuously 
every day, while the laborer is fed with the crumbs which fall 
from the table of the rich. The working-men have petitioned 
for justice; their petitions were treated with contempt, and 
their leaders imprisoned and treated with greater severity than 
felons; they ask for a reduction of taxation, and the answer 
is, a rural police. 

The proceedings of the last Quarter Sessions, are well 
worthy your serious attention. One oppressive act follows 
the other. Sometime ago we had a Poor-law Amendment Act, 
by which the management of your own money was completely 
taken out of your own hands, and placed in the hands of the 
landlords. Here's a pretty law, by which poverty is made a 
crime and punished by confinement, by a separation of man 
and wife, and parent and child. To support this oppressive 
law we are now to have a rural police! — armed men all over 
the country — to suppress discontent by force, and the murmur- 
ings of poverty by the bludgeon! And this, too, in England 
— in the land formerly of freedom — in the land in which, at one 
time, the constable's staff, and the sheriff's wand, were quite 
sufficient to preserve peace. . . . 

Suppose the farmers and tradesmen were to ask themselves 
how is this likely to end? It must produce one of two states 
of things. Every year will add to the oppression and poverty 
of the people. Tyranny has no cessation ; every desperate act 
must be supported by one more violent, the preservation of 
the tyrants renders this necessary. We are fast approaching 
the state of France, previously to the first revolution. We 



194 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [jg^ 

have spies watching all public proceedings ; every word will 
very soon be weighed in the balance of the despot, and con- 
strued at the will of those in authority. This will produce 
a sullen discontent which will be evinced in a way to render 
property and life insecure. This will be a pretty state of 
society when every farmer will come to market with a brace 
of pistols in his pocket — when every man in authority will 
be looking for an enemy in every one he meets. This is no 
imaginary picture, it will be a state of society, the natural ef- 
fects of taxation, of poverty, of misery, and of crime. 

Look at the other side of the picture ; suppose that the 
working-men, driven to despair, should follow the example 
of our own, and of other, countries. Here would be a state 
of suffering ! All the angry passions in full scope — resentment 
for past injuries, hatred public and private. Where, in such a 
case, would be the voice that, under those circumstances, 
would be listened to? The French people, previously to the 
revolution, were led by some of the most benevolent men in 
the world; they sought for a change in the most oppressive 
laws that ever existed. The government fancied that if it 
could destroy the leaders, that all would be well. In many 
instances it succeeded ; and what was the consequence ? Lead- 
ers ten times more violent. It appears to be the opinion of 
the authorities in this country, that if they could imprison 
or destroy the leaders of the movement, that all would be well. 
Never was there a greater mistake. Could they succeed, they 
would exchange benevolent men for cruel ones. Stopping the 
movement is out of the question, unless by altering a system 
which is the cause of all the evils of which the people com- 
plain. 1 

The plan of the Welsh Chartists, as brought out at the 
subsequent trials, was to have the members of the various 
lodges throughout the district assemble, fully armed, and 
then march towards Newport in three divisions. A copy of 

1 The English Chartist Circular, no. 27. 



: .;, r - 7#£ NEWPORT RIZ I I95 

the directions produced a: the magistrates' examination* 
« the details of the scheme 

Let us form into sections, by choosing a good staunch inde- 
pendent brother at the head of each section: that is fcc say 
each section to be composed of ten men. who are known to 
him to be sincere, so that the head of each section may know 
his men. Thus five sections will comprise 55 men and offi- 
cers. Then these five officers — such as corpora'. 5 — ".vill choose 
a head officer, so that he may give his five officers notice : so 
these 50 men are to be called a bye-name; then three fifties 
will compose a company,, and the three officers will choose a 
proper person to command the 165 in company, officers and 
all, such as a captain. Then three companies will compose 495 
men and officers, which officer will be such as a brigade-gen- 
eral. So three brigades will choose a chief, which will be 
1485 men and officers, which chief officer is to be in the 
style of a conventional-general. So that by these means the 
signal " W. R.' ; can be given in two hours'' notice, within 
seven miles, by the head officer noticing every officer under 
him, until it comes to the deacons or corporals to notice their 
ten men; the officers to have bye-names — not military names. 

It was decided that the first division, starting from Black- 
wood, should be headed by Frost; the second, composed of 
men from Brynmawr and Ebbw Vale, should leave the 
latter place under the command of Zephaniah Williams; 
while the third division, consisting of the Chartists from 
Blaenavon, Abersychan, and neighboring places, should 
leave Pontypool under the leadership of William Tones.* 

1 The Chartist Riots at Newport, November, 1839, 2d edition, 1889, 
pp. 19-20. 

2 Zephaniah Williams, a keeper of a beerhouse in a little town near 
Newport, was one of the most enthusiastic followers of Vincent and 
Frost, and during the Chartist agitation exercised great influence 
among the workingmen of his district. 

William Jones, or William Lloyd Jones, as he designated himself in 
later years, was the illegitimate son of a tradesman at Bristol. In his 



1 96 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [ I9 6 

The three divisions were directed to meet on Sunday, No- 
vember the third, at midnight, at a place several miles from 
Newport. Thence they would march into the town, which 
would be reached about two o'clock in the morning, attack 
the troops who were expected to be caught unprepared in 
the absence of any suspicion of danger, break down the 
bridge across the Usk, stop the mail-coaches and the traffic, 
and take possession of the town. The delay of the mail was 
to be a signal to Birmingham, and then to the whole North, 
to rise in arms. 

The plan was carried out only in part. On the Sunday 
preceding the attack, all villages in the district were in a 
state of mobilization, and, in spite of the heavy rain, men 
of all ages, fathers and sons, gathered at the appointed 
places, armed with weapons of every description. Those 
who had known nothing of the plot were struck with 
terror and hid themselves in the recesses of their dwellings 
or in the neighboring woods. Many houses are re- 
ported to have been searched, and men dragged from bed 
and forced to join the march. The center of all action was 
in Blackwood, where the commander-in-chief, John Frost, 
issued orders and received reports from his subordinates. 
About seven o'clock a messenger presented himself to Frost, 
saying that he had come from Newport ; that " the soldiers 
there were in the barracks; that they were all Chartists; 
that their arms and ammunition were all packed, and that 
they were all ready to come up on the Hills, only they were 
waiting for the Chartists to go down to fetch them." x 

youth he gave up his trade of watchmaker and became a strolling actor. 
In 1833 he was made the manager of a watchmaking business in Ponty- 
pool, and then, after his marriage, started the same business on his 
own account. His attractive personality and histrionic talents rendered 
him a commanding figure among the Pontypool Chartists. In the 
movement he distinguished himself as one of the most zealous advo- 
cates of physical force. 
1 The Chartist Riots at Newport, p. 21. 



197] THE NE WPORT RIOT I97 

This was evidently a spurious report. As a matter of 
fact, the news had by that time reached Newport that the 
Chartists were scouring the Hills in all directions and gath- 
ering great forces. The mayor, Thomas Phillips, imme- 
diately summoned five hundred special constables and 
stationed them in various places. Messengers and scouts 
were sent out in all directions to watch and report the 
progress of the Chartist movements. In his intense alarm 
at the news imparted to him by the spies, the mayor also 
despatched a request to Bristol that a reinforcement of 
troops be sent at once to Newport. In the course of the 
evening special constables paraded the streets and arrested 
all suspicious persons. 

The severity of the weather and the incessant torrents of 
rain during the whole night greatly impeded the progress 
of the several divisions, which more than once had to seek 
shelter. Thus the original plan of invading Newport at 
night was completely upset. It was morning when the 
gathered forces reached the outskirts of the town, and the 
news of their approach reached the mayor in time for him 
to station himself with a military detachment and fifty con- 
stables in the Westgate Hotel, where a number of prisoners 
taken during the night were detained. About nine o'clock 
the head of the Chartist body, under the command of Frost, 
appeared, cheering and shouting, at the gates of the West- 
gate Hotel. The men were armed with " guns, pistols, 
blunderbusses, swords, bayonets, daggers, pikes, bill-hooks, 
reaping-hooks, hatchets, cleavers, axes, pitch-forks, blades 
of knives, scythes and saws fixed in staves, pieces of iron 
two and three yards in length, sharpened at the one end, blud- 
geons of various length and size, hand and sledge-hammers, 
mandrils — in fact, every weapon that could be at all made 
available." * The leading ranks made an attempt to enter 

1 The Rise and Fall of Chartism in Monmouthshire, p. 4. 



198 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [ I9 8 

the stable-yard, but finding the gates strongly barred, they 
proceeded to the portico of the Hotel. One of the leaders 
ascended the steps and demanded the surrender of the pris- 
oners, to which a special constable replied, "No, never!" 
The firing of the first gun, however, dissipated the courage 
of the constables, who were armed only with staves. Most 
of them fled, some to the cellars, some to the roof, and 
others to the yard and other places of security, leaving a 
few of their wounded comrades to the mercy of the in- 
vaders. Within a few moments the house was blockaded 
by the rebels, who fired frequent shots through the broken 
windows into the various rooms of the building. It was 
then that the mayor, slightly wounded, ordered the soldiers 
to use their guns. The well-aimed volleys soon proved 
effective. The piercing shrieks of scores of dying and 
wounded men created a panic which destroyed all discipline 
in the rear as well as the front ranks. The rebel army, 
variously estimated between ten and twenty thousand men, 
recoiled in horror before a mere handful of defenders, 
scattering their weapons and even their garments as they 
scampered away in all directions. After ten or fifteen min- 
utes of steady and deadly firing by the soldiers, even the 
most reckless conspirators fled from the place, which pre- 
sented a most gruesome sight : 

Many who suffered in the fight, crawled away; some ex- 
hibiting frightful wounds, and glaring eyes, wildly crying for 
mercy, and seeking a shelter from the charitable; others, de- 
sperately maimed, were carried in the arms of the humane 
for medical aid; and a few of the miserable objects that were 
helplessly and mortally wounded, continued for some minutes 
to writhe in torture, crying for water, and presenting, in their 
gory agonies, a dismal and impressive example to any of the 
political seducers, or the seduced, who might have been within 
view, and a sickening and melancholy spectacle for the eye 
of humanity. 1 

1 The Rise and Fall of Chartism in Monmouthshire, p. 43. • 



199] THE NEWPORT RIOT jgg 

Inside the Westgate five dead bodies and a number of 
severely wounded men were found weltering in their blood. 
One man, who was discovered under the portico of the 
mayor's house, where he had crept, after receiving a 
gun-shot wound, expired exclaiming, " The Charter for 
ever!" Altogether twenty-two bodies were gathered and 
subsequently interred in St. Woolos churchyard. A char- 
acteristic expression of the zealous faith in the cause which 
impelled the actions of those men even to the extent of 
martyrdom is found in the letter which one of the victims, 
a cabinetmaker from Pontypool, a youth barely nineteen 
years of age, wrote to his parents on the eve of the riot: * 

Dear Parents: 

I hope this will find you well, as I am myself at present. I 
shall this night be engaged in a struggle for freedom, and 
should it please God to spare my life, I shall see you soon ; but 
if not, grieve not for me. I shall fall in a noble cause. My 
tools are at Mr. Cecil's, and likewise my clothes. 

Yours truly, 

George Shell. 

In the consternation that followed this attack the author- 
ities did not lose time in taking steps to bring the conspir- 
ators to justice. A reward of £100 was offered for the 
capture of any of the three chief commanders. Frost was 
taken into custody before the close of the evening. When 
apprehended, he appeared fatigued and depressed, and sur- 
rendered without protest. He handed from his pockets 
three new pistols, a flask nearly full of powder and about 
fifty bullets, Jones was arrested about a week after the 
attack, and Williams eluded capture for ten days. The 
three leaders and ten other Chartists were committed, and 
subsequently indicted for high treason, while about thirty 

1 The Chartist Riots at Newport, p. 45. 



200 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [ 2 oo 

others were held on lesser charges. The attitude of the 
government left no doubt that the fate of the principal 
actors was sealed. On the 9th of November, the mayor of 
Newport received a letter from the Secretary of State for 
the Home Department, conveying the Queen's approval of 
his conduct, and this expression of thanks was followed on 
the 13th with an offer of knighthood for the mayor. The 
several constables who had been wounded in the affray were 
rewarded with pensions of £20 per annum each for life. 
Vincent's paper, The Western Vindicator, which had a large 
circulation among the Welsh workingmen, was seized wher- 
ever it could be found, and was suppressed until it disap- 
peared. The Chartists, on the other hand, took up the 
cause of the prisoners in quite a practical way. A conven- 
tion represented by many delegates met in London and 
decided to try all available means to secure a favorable 
verdict for their comrades, and the appeals for funds by 
the defense committees throughout the country received 
generous response. 

The Special Commission, which was headed by the Lord 
Chief Justice Nicholas Tindal, opened its sittings on the 
10th of December, 1839, in the Crown Court at Monmouth. 
The town was in a state of intense excitement. Constab- 
ulary and military forces were stationed near and within 
the court-house, and, in apprehension of all possible con- 
tingencies, loop-holes were pierced in the structure in such 
positions as to enable troops to fire upon any person ap- 
proaching. The Chief Justice charged the grand jury and 
defined the law relating to high treason. The next day 
Frost and twelve of his associates were placed at the bar 
and informed that a true bill of high treason had been 
found against them by the grand jury. The indictment 
comprised four counts, the substance of the charges being 
that the defendants had broken their faith and true alle- 



20I ] THE NEWPORT RIOT 2 OI 

giance to the Sovereign and levied war against the Queen 
within her realm with intent to compel her to change her 
measures. The trial commenced on the 31st of December, 
when the prisoners pleaded " not guilty," and resolved to 
sever in their challenges. The trial of Frost came first. 
Both the Attorney-General and the counsel for the defense 
contested the case with distinct dexterity and resolve. The 
effect of the damaging evidence given by most of the thirty- 
seven witnesses could not, however, be destroyed by the 
counsel, and on the 8th of January, 1840, after half an 
hour's deliberation, the jury brought in a verdict of 
" guilty," accompanied by a recommendation of the pris- 
oner " to the merciful consideration of the court." Zeph- 
aniah Williams was put on trial on the 9th of January, and 
on the 13th the jury returned a verdict of " guilty" with 
the same recommendation. The court then proceeded with 
the case of William Jones, and an identical verdict was re- 
turned on the 15th of the same month. On the following 
day the three prisoners were brought in to receive sentence. 
Frost appeared calm and resigned; Williams was ghastly 
pale and leaned for support against the dock; but Jones 
remained firm and dignified to the very last, apparently little 
impressed by the solemn import with which the Lord Chief 
Justice, holding out no hope of mercy, addressed the con- 
victed Chartists, The latter retained their equanimity even 
after the sentence had been pronounced in the following 
appalling words : 

That you, John Frost, and you, Zephaniah Williams, and 
you, William Jones, be taken hence to the place from whence 
you came, and be thence drawn on a hurdle to the place of 
execution, and that each of you be there hanged by the neck 
until you be dead; and that afterwards the head of each of 
you shall be severed from his body, and the body of each, 
divided into four quarters, shall be disposed of as her Majesty 



202 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [ 20 2 

shall think fit. And may God almighty have mercy upon your 
souls. 1 

A similar sentence was subsequently passed upon five 
other rioters, who had pleaded guilty to the charge of high 
treason, on the understanding that their lives would be 
spared. The Chief Justice accordingly intimated to them 
that, as they had not been the contrivers of the treason, 
their punishment would be commuted to transportation for 
life. Of the other prisoners, eighteen were sentenced to 1 
various terms of hard labor, while a larger number were 
either traversed to the assizes or acquitted. 

The news of the conviction of the Welsh chieftains was 
received by the Chartists with an ebullition of wrath. Nu- 
merous spontaneous meetings were held throughout the 
country, protesting against the sentence as a perversion of 
justice and an act of vengeance, and petitioning both Houses 
of Parliament to save the lives of the convicts. Memorials 
praying for mercy were also presented to the Queen. The 
serious outbreaks in Sheffield, Bradford, and other towns, 
threatened to spread to the large industrial centers. Rumors 
of incendiarism began to circulate from town to town. The 
government, however, seemed not to' waver from its deter- 
mination to carry out the sentence. The possibility of miti- 
gating the penalty caused Sir John Campbell, the Attorney- 
General, keen mental anguish. He appeared personally to 
argue against the validity of the objection which had been 
raised at the trials by the counsel for the defense, and which 
the Lord Chief Justice had submitted for consideration to 
the Court of Exchequer, namely, that the lists of witnesses 
and the jury had not been delivered to the prisoners in pur- 
suance of the Act of Parliament. The case was argued by 
both sides on the 25th, 27th and 28th of January, and the 

1 The Rise and Fall of Chartism in Monmouthshire, p. 82. 



203] THE NEWPORT RIOT 203 

Court decided that the objection, although valid, had not 
been taken at the proper time. The state of mind of Sir 
Campbell is revealed in the following remarks which he 
entered in his diary after the conclusion of the trials : x 

I have passed a very anxious day, as if I myself had been 
on trial. To my utter astonishment and dismay, Tindal 
summed up for an acquittal. What he meant, the Lord only 
knows. No human being doubted the guilt of the accused, 
and we had proved it by the clearest evidence. Chief Justice 
Tindal is a very honorable man, and had no assignable reason 
for deviating from the right course. Yet from the beginning 
to the end of his charge, he labored for an acquittal. 

The execution of the three convicts was fixed for Satur- 
day, February 1, 1840. The executioner, the heads-man, 
the scaffold, and the implements of death were kept in 
readiness, when a respite for the prisoners reached Mon- 
mouth on the 30th of January. This, however, inspired 
but little hope, as it was immediately followed by an official 
announcement of the High Sheriff that the sentence would 
be carried out on the 6th of February. On January 31st, 
Sir Frederick Pollock, the chief counsel for Frost, for the 
sixth time headed a deputation to Lord Melbourne endeav- 
oring to prevail on him to mitigate the severity of the 
punishment. The Premier remained inflexible, although Sir 
Pollock had conveyed to him the urgent personal entreaty 
of Lord Brougham. When informed of the result, the 
latter persuaded Sir Pollock to try once more. The seventh 
interview proved successful. Rumors had it that in this 
decision the government gratified the personal wishes of 
the Queen. On the 1st of February a respite during Her 
Majesty's pleasure was read to the prisoners, and secret 
orders were given to the governor of the jail to be pre- 

1 The Chartist Riots at Newport, pp. 66-67. 



204 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [204 

pared for immediate departure with the convicts. On Sun- 
day night, the 26. of February, Frost, Williams and Jones 
were removed from Monmouth jail and, under military 
escort, conveyed to Chepstow and placed on a steamer 
which was bound for Portsmouth. All efforts to save the 
victims from banishment proved futile, the Secretary of 
State holding that he could not, consistently with his public 
duty, advise the Queen to grant the prayers. On the 24th 
of the same month the three Welshmen, together with two 
hundred and ten other prisoners, embarked in a convict vessel 
at Spithead, destined for Van Diemen's Land. The motion 
which Representative Leader brought forward on the 10th 
of March, for an address to the Queen praying for a free 
pardon, was supported only by seven members, 1 

While the doom of the banished leaders continued to agi- 
tate the minds of the Chartists, sincere sympathy was every- 
where expressed to the relatives of the men slain at the 
Westgate. On Sunday, April 12, 1840, the graves of the 
victims were decorated with flowers and laurels, sur- 
mounted with the following lines : 

May the rose of England never blow, 
The Clyde of Scotland cease to flow, 
The harp of Ireland never play, 
Until the Chartists gain the day. 

1 The repeated agitation on behalf of the three martyrs finally led the 
government, in 1854, to grant them conditional pardons, forbidding re- 
turn to the United Kingdom. Frost went to the United States, where he 
resided for two years. The numerous memorials from Newport, Shef- 
field, and other towns, finally won him unconditional pardon. In 
August, 1856, he returned to Newport, and was received with great 
enthusiasm. The Town Council, however, refused to comply with his 
demand to have his name restituted in the list of freemen of the bor- 
ough. He then took up his residence at Stapleton. After years of 
seclusion, he died on the 28th of July, 1877. 

Williams, who had become a wealthy coal owner, died on the 8th of 
May, 1874, in Tasmania. 

Jones pursued his occupation of watchmaker at Launceston, Austra- 
lia, having no desire to go elsewhere. He died there in December, 1873. 



205] THE NEWPORT RIOT 205 

The onslaught of the government was not confined to 
Wales alone. The prosecutions of the Chartists filled the 
chronicles of well-nigh every town in the United Kingdom. 
The outrages of the police and the spies became a public 
nuisance. One after another the active men in the move- 
ment were apprehended and convicted. Most of the leaders 
conducted their own defense, and their addresses to 1 the 
jury, some of them lasting five, six and even ten hours, be- 
came a singular feature at these trials. Severe penalties 
were imposed on Bronterre, O'Connor, the veteran radical 
William Benbow, and other leaders, and all were subjected 
to the most humiliating treatment by the prison authorities. 

The following table shows the distribution of the Char- 
tist prisoners confined for various terms for seditious libel, 
for riot, for attending illegal meetings, for possession of 
arms, and other political offences, from January 1, 1839, to 
June 1, 1840 r 1 

Chartist Convicts in England 
County. Where Confined. ^ . . 

Chester County Gaol 29 

Durham County Gaol 3 

Kent House of Correction, Canterbury 1 

Lancaster Lancaster Castle 5 

County Gaol and House of Correction, 

Kirkdale 13S 

House of Correction, Preston 3 

Lincoln Lincoln Castle 1 

Middlesex House of Correction 14 

Gaol of Newgate 8 

Westminster Bridewell 13 

Monmouth County Gaol 63 

House of Correction, Usk 4 

Northumberland . .House of Correction, Newcastle 19 

1 Based on returns to an order of the House of Commons. Cf. The 
English Chartist Circular, no. 1. 



206 THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT [ 2 o6 

Nottingham County Gaol 23 

House of Correction, Southwell 12 

Somerset County Gaol, Ilchester 3 

Surrey Queen's Bench Prison 2 

Warwick County Gaol 28 

Wilts County Gaol 8 

House of Correction, Devizes 1 

Worcester Gaol and House of Correction 3 

York York Castle 69 

East Riding, House of Correction 2 

North Riding, House of Correction 12 

West Riding, House of Correction 19 

Total for England 480 

Chartist Convicts in Wales 

County. Where Confined. Number of 

Convicts. 

Brecon County Gaol and House of Correction 12 

Glamorgan House of Correction, Swansea 1 

Montgomery Gaol and House of Correction 50 

Total for Wales 63 

Total for England and Wales 543 

The wholesale arrests and the ruthless persecution of the 
Chartists seemed to have crushed the movement. The 
Whig press had apparent cause to rejoice at the govern- 
ment victory. The excitement caused by the Newport riot 
and the subsequent trials was gradually waning; public 
meetings became less frequent and less aggressive, and a 
large portion of the Chartist press went out of existence. 
There were all the symptoms of an early death of the mon- 
ster movement. Yet even then all but those blinded with 
conceit and self-delusion could see the new weapons that 
were being forged by the workingmen against their enemies, 
Carlyle voiced the truth when he said that it was the " chi- 
mera of Chartism " and not the reality that was put 



20y] THE NEWPORT RIOT 2Q y 

down. 1 The causes of discontent remaining unhampered, 
the hydra-headed "chimera" could not be crushed. In- 
deed, the government prosecutor had not completed his task 
of heaping vengeance on the organizers of the movement 
when a new force of recruits appeared on the battlefield 
ready to fight and to win. 

But this begins a new chapter in the history of Chartism. 

1 Thomas Carlyle, Chartism, London, 1840, p. 2. 



APPENDIX A 

Petition Agreed to at the " Crown and Anchor " Meet- 
ing, February 28th, 1837 

" To the Honorable the Commons of Great Britain and Ire- 
land. The Petition of the undersigned Members of the Work- 
ing Men's Association and others sheweth — 

" That the only rational use of the institutions and laws of 
society is justly to protect, encourage, and support all that can 
be made to contribute to the happiness of all the people. 

" That, as the object to be obtained is mutual benefit, so 
ought the enactment of laws to be by mutual consent. 

" That obedience to laws can only be justly enforced on the 
certainty that those who are called on to obey them have had, 
either personally or by their representatives, a power to enact, 
amend, or repeal them. 

" That all those who are excluded from this share of polit- 
ical power are not justly included within the operation of the 
laws ; to them the laws are only despotic enactments, and the 
legislative assembly from whom they emanate can only be 
considered parties to an unholy compact, devising plans and 
schemes for taxing and subjecting the many. 

" That the universal political right of every human being is 
superior and stands apart from all customs, forms, or ancient 
usage ; a fundamental right not in the power of man to confer, 
or justly to deprive him of. 

" That to take away this sacred right from the person and 
to vest it in property, is a wilful perversion of justice and 
common sense, as the creation and security of property are the 
consequences of society — the great object of which is human 
happiness. 

" That any constitution or code of laws, formed in violation 
208 [208 



20g] APPENDIX A 2Q g 

of men's political and social rights, are not rendered sacred 
by time nor sanctified by custom. 

" That the ignorance which originated, or permits their 
operation, forms no excuse for perpetuating the injustice; nor 
can aught but force or fraud sustain them, when any consider- 
able number of the people perceive and feel their degradation. 

" That the intent and object of your petitioners are to pre- 
sent such facts before your Honorable House as will serve to 
convince you and the country at large that you do not repre- 
sent the people of these realms; and to appeal to your sense 
of right and justice, as well as to every principle of honor, for 
directly making such legislative enactments as shall cause the 
mass of the people to be represented ; with the view of secur- 
ing the greatest amount of happiness to ail classes of society. 

" Your petitioners find, by returns ordered by your Honor- 
able House, that the whole people of Great Britain and Ire- 
land are about 24 millions, and that the males above 21 years 
of age are 6,023,752, who, in the opinion of your petitioners, 
are justly entitled to the elective right. 

"That according to S. Wortley's return (ordered by your 
Honorable House) the number of registered electors, who have 
the power to vote for members of Parliament, are only 839,- 
519, and of this number only Sj4 in 12 give their votes. 

" That on an analysis of the constituency of the United 
Kingdom, your petitioners find that 331 members (being a 
majority of your Honorable House) are returned by one hun- 
dred and fifty-one thousand four hundred and ninety-two 
registered electors! 

" That comparing the whole of the male population above 
the age of 21 with the 151,492 electors, it appears that ¥ V 
of them, or j^-$ of the entire population, have the power of 
passing all the laws in your Honorable House. 

" And your petitioners further find, on investigation, that 
this majority of 331 members are composed of 163 Tories or 
Conservatives, 134 Whigs and Liberals, and only 34 who call 
themselves Radicals ; and out of this limited number it is ques- 
tionable whether 10 can be found who are truly the represen- 
tatives of the wants and wishes of the producing classes. 



2IO APPENDIX A [ 2IO 

" Your petitioners also find that 15 members of your Honor- 
able House are returned by electors under 200 ; 55 under 300 ; 
99 under 400; 121 under 500; 150 under 600; 196 under 700; 
214 under 800; 240 under 900; and 256 under 1,000; and 
that many of these constituencies are divided between two 
members. 

" They also find that your Honorable House, which is said 
to be exclusively the people's or the Commons' House, contains 
two hundred and five persons who are immediately or remotely 
related to the Peers of the Realm. 

" Also that your Honorable House contains 1 marquess, 7 
earls, 19 viscounts, 32 lords, 25 right honorables, 52 honor- 
ables, 63 baronets, 13 knights, 3 admirals, 7 lord-lieutenants, 
42 deputy and vice-lieutenants, 1 general, 5 lieutenant-generals, 
9 major-generals, 32 colonels, 33 lieutenant-colonels, 10 majors, 
49 captains in army and navy, 10 lieutenants, 2 cornets, 58 
barristers, 3 solicitors, 40 bankers, 33 East India proprietors, 
13 West India proprietors, 52 place-men, 114 patrons of church 
livings having the patronage of 274 livings between them; 
the names of whom your petitioners can furnish at the request 
of your Honorable House. 

"Your petitioners therefore respectfully submit to your 
Honorable House that these facts afford abundant proofs that 
you do not represent the numbers or the interests of the mil- 
lions ; but that the persons composing it have interests for the 
most part foreign or directly opposed to the true interests of 
the great body of the people. 

" That perceiving the tremendous power you possess over 
the lives, liberty and labor of the unrepresented millions — 
perceiving the military and civil forces at your command — the 
revenue at your disposal — the relief of the poor in your hands 
— the public press in your power, by enactments expressly ex- 
cluding the working classes alone — moreover, the power of 
delegating to others the whole control of the monetary arrange- 
ments of the Kingdom, by which the laboring classes may be 
silently plundered or suddenly suspended from employment — 
seeing all these elements of power wielded by your Honorable 



2i i ] APPENDIX A 211 

House as at present constituted, and fearing the consequences 
that may result if a thorough reform is not speedily had re- 
course to, your petitioners earnestly pray your Honorable 
House to enact the following as the law of these realms, with 
such other essential details as your Honorable House shall 
deem necessary: — 

" A Law for Equally Representing the People of Great 
Britain and Ireland. 

equal representation 

" That the United Kingdom be divided into 200 electoral 
districts; dividing, as nearly as possible, an equal number of 
inhabitants ; and that each district do send a representative to 
Parliament. 

UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE 

" That every person producing proof of his being 21 years 
of age, to the clerk of the parish in which he has resided six 
months, shall be entitled to have his name registered as a 
voter. That the time for registering in each year be from the 
1st of January to the 1st of March. 

ANNUAL PARLIAMENTS 

" That a general election do take place on the 24th of June 
in each year, and that each vacancy be filled up a fortnight 
after it occurs. That the hours for voting be from six o'clock 
in the morning till six o'clock in the evening. 

NO PROPERTY QUALIFICATIONS 

" That there shall be no property qualifications for mem- 
bers; but on a requisition, signed by 200 voters, in favor of 
any candidate being presented to the clerk of the parish in 
which they reside, such candidate shall be put in nomination. 
And the list of all the candidates nominated throughout the 
district shall be stuck on the church door in every parish, to 
enable voters to judge of their qualification. 



212 APPENDIX A [ 2I2 

VOTE BY BALLOT 

" That each voter must vote in the parish in which he re- 
sides. That each parish provide as many balloting boxes as 
there are candidates proposed in the district; and that a tem- 
porary place be fitted up in each parish church for the purpose 
of secret voting. And, on the day of election, as each voter 
passes orderly on to the ballot, he shall have given to him, by 
the officer in attendance, a balloting ball, which he shall drop 
into the box of his favorite candidate. At the close of the day 
the votes shall be counted, by the proper officers, and the 
numbers stuck on the church doors. The following day the 
clerk of the district and two examiners shall collect the votes 
of all the parishes throughout the district, and cause the name 
of the successful candidate to be posted in every parish of the 
district. 

SITTINGS AND PAYMENTS TO MEMBERS 

" That the members do take their seats in Parliament on the 
first Monday in October next after their election, and continue 
their sittings every day (Sundays excepted) till the business 
of the sitting is terminated, but not later than the ist of Sep- 
tember. They shall meet every day (during the Session) for 
business at 10 o'clock in the morning, and adjourn at 4. And 
every member shall be paid quarterly out of the public treas- 
ury £400 a year. That all electoral officers shall be elected by 
universal suffrage. 

" By passing the foregoing as the law of the land, you will 
confer a great blessing on the people of England; and your 
petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray." 



APPENDIX B 

The People's Charter 

Being a bill to provide for the just representation of the people 
of Great Britain and Ireland in the Commons' House of 
Parliament. {Published on the 8th of May, 1838). 

Whereas to insure, as far as it is possible by human fore- 
thought and wisdom, the just government of the people, it is 
necessary to subject those who have the power of making the 
laws to a wholesome and strict responsibility to those whose 
duty it is to obey them when made. 

And, whereas, this responsibility is best enforced through 
the instrumentality of a body which emanates directly from, 
and is itself immediately subject to, the whole people, and 
which completely represents their feelings and their interests. 

And, whereas, the Commons' House of Parliament now ex- 
ercises, in the name and on the supposed behalf of the people, 
the power of making the laws, it ought, in order to fulfill with 
wisdom and with honesty the great duties imposed on it, to be 
made the faithful and accurate representation of the people's 
wishes, feelings, and interests. 

Be it therefore enacted: 

That, from and after the passing of this Act, every male 
inhabitant of these realms be entitled to vote for the election 
of a member of Parliament; subject, however, to the follow- 
ing conditions : 

1. That he be a native of these realms, or a foreigner who 
has lived in this country upward of two years, and been 
naturalized. 

2. That he be twenty-one years of age. 

213] 213 



2i 4 APPENDIX B [214 

3. That he be not proved insane when the lists of voters 
are revised. 

4. That he be not convicted of felony within six months 
from and after the passing of this Act. 1 

5. That his electoral rights be not suspended for bribery at 
election, or for personation, or for forgery of election certi- 
ficates, according to the penalties of this Act. 

ELECTORAL DISTRICTS 

I. Be it enacted, that for the purpose of obtaining an equal 
representation of the people in the Commons' House of Par- 
liament, the United Kingdom be divided into 300 electoral 
districts. 2 

II. That each such district contain, as nearly as may be, an 
equal number of inhabitants. 

III. That the number of inhabitants be taken from the last 
census, and as soon as possible after the next ensuing decennial 
census shall have been taken, the electoral districts be made 
to conform thereto. 

IV. That each electoral district be named after the prin- 
cipal city or borough within its limits. 

V. That each electoral district return one representative to 
sit in the Commons' House of Parliament. 

VI. That the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
shall appoint three competent persons as commissioners, and 
as many sub-commissioners as may be necessary for settling 
the boundaries of each of the 300 electoral districts, and so on 
from time to time, whenever a new decennial census of the 
people be taken. 

VII. That the necessary expenses of the said commissioners, 

x "The People's Charter," as revised at a conference held at Bir- 
mingham, December, 1842, reads: "4. That he be not undergoing the 
sentence of the laws at the time when called upon to exercise the elec- 
toral right." 

2 There are, say, 6,000,000 of men eligible to vote. This number, 
divided by 300, gives 20,000 to each member. 



215] APPENDIX B 2I cj 

sub-commissioners, clerks, and other persons employed by them 
in the performance of their duties, be paid out of the public 
treasury. 

REGISTRATION OFFICERS 

Be it enacted, that for the purpose of procuring an accurate 
registration of voters, for finally adjudicating in all cases of 
objections made against persons claiming to be registered, for 
receiving the nominations of Members of Parliament and Re- 
turning Officers, and declaring their election; as well as for 
conducting and superintending all matters connected with regis- 
tration, nomination, and election, according to the provisions 
of this Act, the following officers be appointed : 

1. Returning Officers for each electorial district. 

2. Deputy-Returning Officers for each district. 

3. A Registration Clerk for every parish containing 
number of inhabitants, or for every two or more parishes, if 
united for the purpose of this Act. 

RETURNING OFFICER, AND HIS DUTIES 

I. Be it enacted, that at the first general election after the 
passing of this Act, a returning officer be elected for every 
electoral district throughout the kingdom, and so in like 
manner at the end of every three years. 1 

II. That, at the end of every such period, the returning 
officer for each district be nominated in like manner, and 
elected at the same time, as the Member of Parliament for the 
district ; he shall be eligible to be re-elected. 

III. That vacancies occasioned by the death, removal, or 
resignation of the returning officer, shall in like manner be 
filled up as vacancies for Members of Parliament, for the un- 
expired term of the three years. 2 

IV. That every returning officer shall appoint a deputy re- 

1 The revised " Charter " reads : " at the end of every year." 

2 The revised " Charter " reads : " for the unexpired term of the 
year." 



216 APPENDIX B [ 2I 6 

turning officer, for the day of election, for every balloting place 
within his district, and in all cases be responsible for the just 
fulfilment of the duties of such deputies. 

V. That it be the duty of the returning officers to appoint 
a registration clerk for every parish within his district con- 
taining number of inhabitants, or for every two or more 
parishes if united for the purposes of this Act ; and that in all 
cases he be responsible for the just fulfilment of the duties of 
such clerks. 

VI. That he also see that proper balloting places, and such 
other erections as may be necessary, be provided by each parish 
(or any number that may be united) and that the balloting 
boxes be made and provided according to the provisions of 
this Act. 

VII. That he receive the lists of voters from all the parishes 
in his district, in which lists shall be marked or specified the 
names of the persons who have been objected to by the regis- 
tration clerks or any other persons. 

VIII. That between the first of April and the first of May 
in each year, he shall hold open courts of adjudication at such 
a number of places within his district as he may deem neces- 
sary, of which courts (place and time of meeting) he shall 
cause due notice to be given in each parish of the district, and 
at the same time invite all persons who have made objections, 
and who have been objected to. And, after hearing the state- 
ments that may be made by both parties, he shall finally ad- 
judicate whether the voters' names be placed on the register 
or not. 

IX. That the returning officer shall then cause to be made 
out alphabetical lists of all the registered voters in all the 
parishes within his district ; which lists, signed and attested by 
himself, shall be used at all elections for the district. Such 
lists to be sold to the public at reasonably low prices. 

X. That the returning officer receive all nominations for 
the member of his district, as well as for the returning officer 
of his district, and shall give public notice of the same accord- 
ing to the provisions of this Act ; he shall also receive from the 



217] APPENDIX B 217 

Speaker of the House of Commons the orders for any new 
election, in case of the death or resignation of the member of 
the district, as well as the orders to superintend and conduct 
the election of any other district, in case of the death or resigna- 
tion of the returning officer of such district. 

XI. That the returning officer shall also receive the returns 
from all the parishes within his district, on the day of election ; 
and on the day following the election he shall proclaim the 
state of the ballot, as directed by this Act, and perform the 
several duties appertaining to his office, as herein made and 
provided. 

XII. That the returning officer be paid for fulfilling the 
duties of his office, the sum of per annum, as herein- 
after mentioned. 

XIII. That, upon a petition being presented to the House 
of Commons by at least one hundred qualified electors, against 
any returning officer, 1 complaining of corruption in the exer- 
cise of his office, or of incapacity, such complaints shall be 
inquired into by a committee of the House, consisting of seven 
members ; and, on their report being read, the members present 
shall then determine whether such returning officer be or be 
not guilty, or be or be not incapacitated. 

XIV. That, for conducting the first elections after the pass- 
ing of this Act, a returning officer for each district be tem- 
porarily appointed by the Secretary of State, to perform the 
duties prescribed by this Act. He shall resign his office as 
soon as the new one is appointed, and be paid as hereinafter 
mentioned. — See Penalties. 

DEPUTY RETURNING OFFICER, AND HIS DUTIES 

I. Be it enacted, that a deputy returning officer be appointed 
by the district returning officer to preside at each balloting 
place on the day of election, such deputy to be subject and 
responsible to his authority, as well as to the provisions of 
this Act. 

1 The revised " Charter " reads : " at least one hundred qualified elec- 
tors of the district, against any returning officer of the same." 



218 APPENDIX B [218 

II. That it be the duty of the deputy returning officer to 
provide a number of competent persons, not exceeding , 
to aid him in taking the ballot, and for performing the neces- 
sary business thereof. 

III. That the deputy returning officer shall see that proper 
registration lists are provided, and that the ballot begin at six 
o'clock in the morning precisely, and end at six o'clock in the 
afternoon of the same day. 

IV. That the deputy returning officer, in the presence of 
the agents of the candidates, examine and seal the balloting- 
boxes previous to the commencement of the balloting; he shall, 
in like manner, declare the number of votes for each candidate, 
and shall cause a copy, signed by himself, to be forwarded to 
the returning officer of the district, and another copy to the 
registration clerk of the parish. 

V. That the deputy returning officer be paid for his services 
as hereinafter mentioned. — See Penalties. 

THE REGISTRATION CLERK, HIS DUTIES 

I. Be it enacted, that a registration clerk be appointed by 
the district returning officer for every parish within his dis- 
trict containing inhabitants; or for every two or more 
parishes that may be united for the purposes of this Act ; such 
clerk to be responsible to his authority, as well as to the pro- 
visions of this Act. 

II. That for the purpose of obtaining a correct registration 
of all the voters in each electoral district, the registration clerk 
of every parish, as aforesaid, throughout the kingdom, shall, 
on or before the 1st of February in each year, take or cause 
to be taken round to every dwelling house x in his parish, a 
printed notice of the following form : 

Mr. John Jones, you are hereby required, within six days from the 
date hereof, to fill up this list with the names of all male inhabitants 
of your house, of 21 years of age, and upwards; stating their respec- 

1 The revised " Charter " reads : " to every dwelling-house, poor- 
house, or union-workhouse in his parish." 



2I9 ] APPENDIX B 219 

tive ages, and the time they have resided with you; or, in neglect 
thereof, to forfeit the sum of one pound. 1 

A. B., Registration Clerk. 



Name. 


Address. 


Age. 


Time of 
Residence. 


John Jones. 


6 Upper North Place. 


21 years. 


3 months. 



N. B.— This list will be called for at the expiration of six days from 
this date. 

III. That, at the expiration of six days, as aforesaid, the 
registration clerk shall collect, or cause to be collected, the 
aforesaid lists, and shall cause to be made out from them an 
alphabetical list of all persons who are of the proper age and 
residence to qualify them as voters, according to the provisions 
of this Act. 

IV. That if the registration clerk shall have any just reason 
to believe that the names, ages, or time of residence of any 
persons inserted in the aforesaid list are falsely entered, or not 
in accordance with the provisions of this Act, he shall write 
the words " objected to " opposite such names ; and so in like 
manner against the names of every person he may have just 
reason to consider ineligible, according to the provisions of 
this Act. 

V. That on or before the 8th of March in each year, the 
registration clerk shall cause the aforesaid alphabetical list of 
voters to be stuck against all church and chapel doors, market- 
houses, town-halls, session-houses, 2 and such other conspicuous 
places as he may deem necessary, from the 8th of March till 
the 22nd. He shall also cause a copy of such list to lie at 
his office, to be perused by any person without a fee, at all 

1 The revised " Charter " reads : " the sum of one pound for every 
name omitted." 
* The revised " Charter " added : " poor houses, union workhouses." 



220 APPENDIX B [ 2 20 

reasonable hours; and copies of the said list shall be sold 
to the public at a reasonably low price. 

VI. That, on or before the 25th of March, the registration 
clerk shall take, or cause to be taken a copy of the aforesaid 
list of voters to the returning officer of his district, which list 
shall be signed by himself, and be presented as a just and 
impartial list, according to his judgment, of all persons with- 
in his parish who are eligible according to their claims, as well 
as of all those who have been objected to by himself or 
other persons. 

VII. That the registration clerk shall attend the court of 
adjudication, according to the notice he shall receive from the 
returning officer, to revise his list, and shall perform all the 
duties of his office as herein provided. 

VIII. That the registration clerk be paid for his services in 
the manner hereinafter mentioned. 

ARRANGEMENT FOR REGISTRATION 

I. Be it enacted, that every householder, as well as every 
person occupying or having charge of a dwelling-house, 1 who 
shall receive a notice from the registration clerk as aforesaid, 
shall cause the said notice to be correctly filled up with the 
names, ages, and time of residence of every male inmate or 
inhabitant of his or her house, of twenty-one years of age and 
upwards, within six days of the day of the date of such notice, 
and shall carefully preserve the same till it is called for by the 
registration clerk, or his proper officer. 

II. That when the list of voters is made out from these 
notices, and stuck on the church doors, 2 as aforesaid, any 
person who finds his name not inserted in the list, and who 
believes he is duly qualified as a voter, shall, on presenting to 
the registration clerk a notice in the following form, have 
his name added to the list of voters: 

1 The revised " Charter " reads : " poor house, or union workhouse ". 

2 The revised " Charter " added : " and places." 



22 1 ] APPENDIX B 221 

I, John Jones, carpenter, residing at in the district of 

being twenty one years of age, and having resided at the above place 
during the last three months, require to be placed on the list of voters, 
as a qualified elector for the said district. 

III. That any person who is qualified as a voter in any 
electoral district, and shall have removed to any other parish 
within the said district, on presenting to the registration clerk 
of the parish he then resides in, his voter's certificate as proof 
of this, or the written testimony of any registration clerk who 
has previously registered him, he shall be entitled to be placed 
on the list of voters as aforesaid. 

IV. That if an elector of any parish in the district have any 
just grounds for believing that any person disqualified by this 
Act has been put upon any parish register within the said 
district, he may, at any reasonable hour, between the ist and 
the 20th day of March, cause the following notices to be de- 
livered ; the one at the residence of the registration clerk, and 
the other at the residence of the person objected to; and the 
registration clerk shall, in like manner, send notice of the 
ground of objection to all persons he may object to, as afore- 
said: 

To the Registration Clerk. 

I, William Smith, elector of the parish of in the district 

of object to A. B. being on the register of voters, believing 

him to be disqualified. 

Dated this day, etc. 

To the person objected to: 

Mr. A. B. of I, William Smith, elector of the parish 

of in the district of object to your name being 

on the register of voters for the following reasons: — (here state the 
reasons) — and I will support my objections by proofs before the Re- 
turning Officer of the District. 

Dated this day, etc. 

V. That if the person thus objecting neglect to attend the 
court of the returning officer at the proper time, to state his 



222 APPENDIX B [222 

objections, he shall be fined ten shillings for every such neglect, 
the same to be levied on his goods and chattels, provided he is 
not prevented from attending by sickness or accident, in which 
case his medical certificate, or a certificate signed by ten voters 
certifying such fact, shall be forwarded to the returning officer, 
who shall then determine whether the claim to be put on the 
register be allowed or not. 

VI. That if the person objected to fails to attend the court 
of the returning officer at the proper time, to substantiate his 
claim, his name shall be erased from the register, provided he 
is not prevented by sickness or accident ; in which case a certi- 
ficate shall be forwarded, and the returning officer shall deter- 
mine, as before directed. 

VII. That if it should be proved before the returning officer, 
in his open court of adjudication, that any person has frivo- 
lously or vexatiously objected to any one being placed on the 
list of voters, such person objecting shall be fined twenty shill- 
ings, the same to be levied on his goods and chattels. 1 

VIII. That, as early as possible after the lists are revised as 
aforesaid, the returning officer shall cause a copy of the same 
to be forwarded to every registration clerk within his district. 

IX. That the registration clerk of every parish shall then 
correctly copy from such lists the name, age, and residence 
of every qualified elector within his parish or parishes, into a 
book made for that purpose, and shall place a number opposite 
each name. He shall then, within days, take, or cause 
to be taken, to all such electors, a voter's certificate of the 
following form, the number on which shall correspond with the 
number in the aforesaid book : 

No. 123. This is to certify that James Jones, of is eligible 

to vote for one person to be returned to Parliament (as well as for 
the Returning Officer) for the district of for one year from 

the date hereof. 

Dated 

Registration Clerk. 

1 The revised " Charter " provides for a fine of " twenty shillings 
and expenses, the same to be levied on his goods and chattels, and paid 
to the person objected to." 



223] APPENDIX B 223 

X. That if any person lose his voter's certificate by fire, or 
any other accident, he shall not have a new certificate till the 
next registration; but on the day of any election, if he can 
establish his identity, on the testimony of two witnesses, to the 
satisfaction of the registration clerk, as being the qualified 
voter described in the registration book, he shall be allowed 
to vote. 

XL That the returning officer is hereby authorized and com- 
manded to attach any small parishes to any adjacent parish 1 
within his district for the purposes of this Act, and not other- 
wise ; and in like manner to unite all extra-parochial places to 
some adjacent parish. — See Penalties. 

ARRANGEMENT FOR NOMINATIONS 

I. Be it enacted, that for the purpose of guarding against too 
great a number, who might otherwise be heedlessly proposed, 
as well as for giving time for the electors to inquire into the 
merits of the persons who may be nominated for members of 
Parliament, as well as for returning officers, that all nomin- 
ations be taken as hereinafter directed. 

II. That for all general elections of members of Parliament 
a requisition of the following form, signed by at least one hun- 
dred qualified electors of the district, be delivered to the re- 
turning officer of the district, between the 1st and 10th day of 
May in each year; and that such requisition constitute the 
nomination of such person as a candidate for the district : 

We, the undersigned electors of the district of recommend 

A. B. of as a fit and proper person to represent the people 

of this district in the Commons' House of Parliament, the said A. B. 
being a qualified elector of these realms. 2 

Dated, etc. 

Signed. 

III. That the returning officer of every electoral district 

1 The italicized phrase was omitted in the revised " Charter." 

2 The revised " Charter " reads : " the said A. B. being qualified to 
be an elector according to the provisions of this Act. 



224 APPENDIX B [224 

shall, on or before the 13th of May in each year, cause a list 
of all the candidates thus nominated to be stuck up against all 
church and chapel doors, market-houses, town-halls, session- 
houses, 1 and such other conspicuous places within the district 
as he may deem necessary. 

IV. That whenever a vacancy is occasioned in any district 
by the death, resignation, or other cause, of the member of 
Parliament, the returning officer of that district shall, within 
three days after the receipt of his orders from the Speaker 
of the House of Commons, give notice thereof in all the 
parishes of his district in the manner described for giving 
notices, and he shall at the same time request all nominations 
to be made as aforesaid, within ten days from the receipt of his 
order, and shall also appoint the day of election within eighteen 
days from the receipt of such order from the Speaker of the 
House of Commons. 

V. That if, from any circumstances, no person has been 
nominated as a candidate for the district on or before the 10th 
of May, persons may then be nominated in the manner de- 
scribed as aforesaid at any time previous to the 20th of May, 
but not otherwise. 2 

VI. That at the first election after the passing of this Act, 
and at the expiration of every three succeeding years, the 
nomination of candidates for the returning officer be made in 
the same manner as for the members of Parliament, and 
nominations for vacancies that may occur in like manner. 

VII. That if two or more persons are nominated as afore- 
said for members to serve in Parliament for the district, the 
returning officer shall, at any time between the 15th and 31st 
of May, (Sundays excepted), appoint such times and places 
(not exceeding ) as he shall think most convenient 
to the electors of the district for the candidates to appear be- 

1 In the revised " Charter," " poor-houses, and union workhouses " 
were added. 

2 The revised " Charter " reads : " but not after that date." 

3 The revised "Charter" reads: "at the expiration of every year.' ? 



225] APPENDIX B 225 

fore them, then and there to explain their views and solicit 
the suffrages of the electors. 

VIII. That the returning officer see that the places above 
described be convenient for the purpose, and that as many such 
erections be put up as may be necessary; the same to be paid 
for by the returning officer, and charged in his account as 
hereinafter mentioned. 

IX. That for the purpose of keeping good order and public 
decorum, the returning officer either take the chair at such 
meeting himself, or appoint a deputy for that purpose. 

X. That, provided only one candidate be proposed for a 
member of Parliament for the district by the time herein 
before mentioned, the returning officer cause notice to be given, 
as hereinafter mentioned, that such candidate is elected a 
member for the district; and if only one candidate be proposed 
for the returning officer, he shall in like manner be declared 
duly elected. 

XI. That no other qualification shall be required for mem- 
bers to serve in the Commons' House of Parliament, than the 
choice of the electors. 1 — See Penalties. 

ARRANGEMENT FOR ELECTIONS 

I. Be it enacted, that a general election of members of 
Parliament, for the electoral districts of the United Kingdom, 
take place on the first Monday in June in each year ; and that 
all vacancies, by death or otherwise, shall be filled up as nearly 
as possible within eighteen days after they occur. 

II. That a general election of returning officer for all the 
districts take place at the expiration of every three years on 
the first Monday in June, and at the same time members of 

1 The revised "Charter" provides: "XI. That no other qualification 
shall be required than the choice of the electors, according to the pro- 
visions of this Act; providing that no persons, excepting the cabinet 
ministers, be eligible to serve in the Commons' House of Parliament 
who are in the receipt of any emolument derivable from any place or 
places held under Government, or of retired allowances arising there- 
from." 



226 APPENDIX B [226 

Parliament are to be elected; and that all vacancies be filled 
up, as nearly as possible, within eighteen days after they occur. 

III. That every person who has been registered as aforesaid, 
and who has a voter's certificate, shall have the right of voting 
in the district in which he has been registered, and in that only, 
and of voting for the member of Parliament for that district, 
and the returning officer for the district, and for those only. 

IV. That, for the purpose of taking the votes of the quali- 
fied electors, the parish officer in every parish of the district 
(or in every two parishes if united for that purpose) shall 
cause proper places to be privided, so as to admit of the 
arrangements described in Schedule A, and so constructed 
(either permanently or temporarily as they may think proper) 
that the votes may be taken with due despatch, and so as to 
secure the elector while voting from being inspected by any 
other person. 

V. That the parish officers of every parish in the district 
provide a sufficient number of balloting-boxes, made after a 
model described in Schedule B (or made on one plan by per- 
sons appointed to make them, as was the case with weights and 
measures), and none but such boxes, duly certified, shall be 
used. 

VI. That immediately preceeding the commencement of the 
balloting, each ballot-box shall be opened by the deputy re- 
turning officer (or otherwise examined, as the case may be), 
in the presence of an agent appointed by each candidate, and 
shall then be sealed by him and by the agents of the candidates, 
and not again be opened until the balloting has finally closed, 
when notice shall be given to such of the agents of the candi- 
dates as may then be present to attend to the opening of the 
boxes and ascertaining the number of votes for each candidate. 

VII. That the deputy returning officer preside in the front 
of the ballot-box, and see that the balloting is conducted with 
strict impartiality and justice; and that the various clerks, 
assistants, and parish constables properly perform their re- 
spective duties, and that strict order and decorum be preserved 
among the friends of the candidates, as well as among all per- 



227] APPENDIX B 2 2J 

sons employed in conducting the election; and he is hereby 
authorized and empowered to cause all persons to be taken into 
custody who interrupt the proceedings of the election, seek to 
contravene the provisions of this Act, or fail to obey his 
lawful authority. 

VIII. That during the time the balloting is going on, two 
agents of each candidate may be in the space fronting the 
ballot-box, and immediately behind the deputy returning officer, 
in order that they may see that the election is fairly conducted ; 
such persons to be provided by the deputy returning officer with 
cards of admission, and to pass in and out by the entrance as- 
signed them. 

IX. That the registration clerk of every parish in the dis- 
trict, who has been appointed for the purposes of registration, 
be at the balloting place, in the station assigned him, previously 
to the commencement of the balloting, and see that no person 
pass on to the balloting place till he has examined his certifi- 
cate and seen that it corresponds with the registration list. 

X. That the parish constables and the officers stationed at 
the entrance of the balloting place, shall not permit any person 
to enter unless he shows his voter's certificate, except the per- 
sons employed in conducting the election, or those persons who 
have proved the loss of their voter's certificate. 

XL That at the end of every three years, 1 or whenever the 
returning officer is elected at the same time as the member 
for the district, a division shall be made in the balloting places, 
and the boxes and balloting so arranged as to ensure the can- 
didates the strictest impartiality and justice, by preventing the 
voter from giving two votes for either of the candidates. 

XII. That on the day of election, the balloting commence at 
six o'clock in the forenoon and terminate at six o'clock in the 
afternoon of the same day. 

XIII. That when any voter's certificate is examined by the 
registration clerk, and found to be correct, he shall be allowed 
to pass on to the next barrier, where a balloting-ball shall be 

1 The revised " Charter " reads : " at the end of every year." 



228 APPENDIX B [ 22 8 

given him by the person appointed for that purpose; he shall 
then pass on to the balloting box, and, with all due despatch, 
shall put the balloting-ball into the aperture opposite the name x 
of the candidate he wishes to vote for, after which he shall, 
without delay, leave the room by the door assigned for the 
purpose. 

XIV. That, at the close of the balloting, the deputy return- 
ing officer, in the presence of the agents of the candidates and 
other persons present, shall break open the seals of the ballot- 
ing-boxes, and ascertain the number for each candidate; he 
shall then cause copies of the same to be publicly posted outside 
the balloting place; and immediately forward (by a trusty 
messenger) a copy of the same, signed by himself and the 
agents present, to the returning officer of the district; he shall 
then deliver a similar copy to the registration clerk, who shall 
carefully preserve the same, and produce it if necessary. 

XV. That the persons employed as assistants, for inspecting 
the certificates and attending on the balloting, be paid as here- 
inafter mentioned. 

XVI. That all the expense of registration, nominations and 
election, as aforesaid, together with the salaries of the return- 
ing officers, registration clerk, assistants, constables, and such 
other persons as may be necessary, as well as the expense of 
all balloting places, balloting-boxes, hustings, and other neces- 
saries for the purposes of this Act, be paid out of an equitable 
district rate, which a District Board, composed of one parochial 
officer chosen by each of the parishes in the district, or for any 
two or more parishes, if united for the purposes of this Act, are 
hereby empowered and commanded to levy on all householders 
within the district. 

XVIII. That all expenses necessary for the purposes of this 
Act incurred within the district be paid by the District Board 
as aforesaid, or their treasurer ; that the salaries of all officers 
and assistants required for the purposes of this Act, be fixed 

1 The revised " Charter " reads : " into the box of the candidate." 



229] APPENDIX B 22Q 

and paid by the said Board, according to the expenses and 
duties of the various localities. 1 

XVIII. That all accounts of receipts and expenditure for 
electoral purposes shall be kept distinct, and be audited by 
auditors appointed by the District Board, as aforesaid; copies 
of which accounts shall be printed for the use of the respective 
parishes in the district. 

XIX. That all canvassing for members of Parliament, as 
well as for returning officers, is hereby declared to be illegal, 
and meetings for that purpose during the balloting, on the day 
of election, are hereby also declared to be illegal. — See 
Penalties. 

DURATION OF PARLIAMENT 

I. Be it enacted, that the Members of the House of Com- 
mons, chosen as aforesaid, shall meet on the first Monday in 
June in each year, and continue their sittings from time to 
time as they may deem it convenient, till the first Monday in 
June following, when the next new Parliament shall be chosen ; 
they shall be eligible to be re-elected. 

II. That during an adjournment they be liable to be called 
together by the executive in cases of emergency. 

III. That a register be kept of the daily attendance of each 
member, which, at the close of the session, shall be printed 
as a sessional paper, showing how the members have attended. 

PAYMENT OF MEMBERS 

I. Be it enacted, that every member of the House of Com- 
mons, be entitled, at the close of the session, to a writ of ex- 

1 The Committee having considered that, as the duties and expenses 
of all these various offices will greatly vary, according to their local- 
ities, it will be unwise to have a sum fixed by Parliament and paid out 
of the treasury. Believing, moreover, that a just system of representa- 
tion will soon purify the local corruptions that exist, they think that 
the united expenditure will be much less under the immediate superin- 
tendence of the local authorities, when responsible to the people, than 
under the management of government and their subordiate agents. 



230 APPENDIX B [230 

penses on the Treasury, for his legislative duties in the public 
service, and shall be paid £500 1 per annum. 2 

PENALTIES 

I. Be it enacted., that if any person cause himself to be 
registered in more than one electoral district, and vote in more 
than one such district, upon conviction thereof before any two 
justices of the peace within either of such districts, he shall 
incur for the first offence the penalty of three months' im- 
prisonment, and for the second offence twelve months' im- 
prisonment. 

II. That any person who shall be convicted as aforesaid 
of wilfully neglecting to fill up his or her notice within the 
proper time, or of leaving out the name of any inmate in his 
or her notice, shall for the first offence incur the penalty of 
five pounds, and three months' imprisonment for the second 
offence. 3 

III. That any person who shall be convicted as aforesaid 
of forging any name, age, or time of residence on any notice, 
shall for the first offence incur the penalty of three months' 
imprisonment, and for the second offence be deprived of his 
elective rights for five years. 4 

IV. That any person who shall be convicted as aforesaid, 
of having in any manner obtained the certificate of an elector 

1 The amount was omitted in the revised " Charter." 

2 The Committee understand that the daily payment of members of 
Parliament has operated beneficially in Canada ; but they fear that such 
mode of payment holds out a motive for lengthening the sessions un- 
necessarily; and if the time of sitting is limited by law, it may lead to 
too hasty legislation, both of which evils are obviated by an annual 
payment. 

3 The revised " Charter " reads : " the penalty of one pound for 
every name omitted, and for the second offence, incur the penalty of 
three months' imprisonment, and be deprived of his electoral rights for 
three years." 

* The revised " Charter " reads : " and for the second offence three 
months' imprisonment and be deprived of his elective rights for three 
years." 



2 -,j] APPENDIX B 231 

other than his own, and of having voted or attempted to vote 
by means of such false certificate, shall for the first offence 
incur the penalty of six months' imprisonment, and for the 
second offence six months' imprisonment, and be deprived of 
his elective rights for five years. 1 

V. That any person who shall be convicted, as aforesaid, 
of having forged a voter's certificate, or of having forged the 
name of any person to any certificate ; or having voted or at- 
tempted to vote on such forged certificate; knowing such to 
have been forged, shall for the first offence incur the penalty 
of twelve months' imprisonment, and for the second offence 
twelve months' imprisonment, and be deprived of his elective 
rights for five years. 2 

VI. That any person who shall be convicted as aforesaid, 
of having forged, or caused to be forged, the names of any 
voters to a requisition nominating a member of Parliament or 
a returning officer, shall for the first offence incur the penalty 
of three months' imprisonment, and twelve months for the 
second offence. 3 

VII. That any person who shall be convicted as aforesaid 
of bribery, in order to secure his election, shall be subject for 
the first offence to incur the penalty of two years' imprison- 
ment, and for the second offence shall be imprisoned two 
years, and be deprived of his elective rights for five years. 

VIII. That any agent of any candidate, or any other per- 
son, who shall be convicted, as aforesaid, of bribery at any 
election, shall be subject for the first offence to incur the 
penalty of twelve months' imprisonment, and for the second 

1 The revised " Charter " fixes a penalty of three months for the first 
offence, and three months' imprisonment and the loss of elective rights 
for three years for the second offence. 

1 In the revised " Charter " the term of imprisonment in both cases 
is reduced to three months, and the loss of elective rights to three 
years. 

s The revised " Charter " reads : " and for the second offence three 
months' imprisonment, and to be deprived of his elective rights for 
three years." 



232 APPENDIX B [232 

offence twelve months' imprisonment, and be deprived of his 
elective rights for five years. 

IX. That any person who shall be convicted, as aforesaid, 
of going from house to house, or place to place, to solicit in 
any way votes in favor of any member of Parliament 1 or re- 
turning officer, after the nomination as aforesaid, shall for 
the first offence incur the penalty of one month's imprisonment, 
and for the second offence two months'. 

X. That any person who shall be convicted as aforesaid 
of calling together, or causing an election meeting to be held 
in any district during the day of election, shall for the first 
offence incur the penalty of three months' imprisonment, and 
for the second offence six months. 

XI. That any person who shall be convicted, as aforesaid, 
of interrupting the balloting, or the business of the election, 
shall incur the penalty of three months' imprisonment for the 
first offence, and six months' for the second. 

XII. That if any messenger, who may be sent with the 
state of the ballot to the returning officer, or with any other 
notice, shall wilfully delay the same, or in any way by his 
consent or conduct cause the same to be delayed, on conviction 
as aforesaid, shall incur the penalty of six months' imprison- 
ment. 

XIII. That any returning officer who shall be convicted, as 
aforesaid, of having neglected to appoint proper officers as 
directed by this Act, to see that proper balloting places and 
balloting boxes are provided, and to give the notices and per- 
form the duties herein required of him, shall forfeit for each 
such neglect the sum of £20. 

XIV. That if any returning officer be found gulty by the 
•House of Commons of bribery or corrupt practices in the 

execution of any of the duties herein assigned to him, he 
shall incur the penalty of twelve months' imprisonment, and 
be deprived of his elective rights for five years. 2 

1 The revised "Charter" reads: "in favor of any candidate for Par- 
liament." 

2 The italicized words were omitted in the revised "Charter." 



23 o] APPENDIX B 233 

XV. That if any deputy returning officer be convicted, as 
aforesaid, of having neglected to perforin any of the duties 
herein assigned him, he shall forfeit for such neglect three 
pounds. 

XVI. That if any deputy returning officer be convicted, as 
aforesaid, of bribery or corrupt practices in the execution of 
the duties of his office, he shall incur the penalty of six months' 
imprisonment, and the deprivation of his elective rights for 
five years. 1 

XVII. That if any registration clerk be convicted, as afore- 
said, of having neglected to perform any of the duties herein 
assigned him, he shall forfeit for each such neglect five pounds. 

XVIII. That if any registration clerk be convicted, as afore- 
said, of bribery or corrupt practices in the execution of the 
duties of his office, he shall incur the penalty of six months' 
imprisonment, and the deprivation of his elective rights for 
five years. 2 

XIX. That if the parochial officers in any parish neglect or 
refuse to comply with any of the provisions of this Act, they 
shall forfeit for every such neglect the sum of i50. 3 

XX. That all fines and penalties incurred under the pro- 
visions of this Act, be recoverable before any two justices of 
the peace, within the district where the offence shall have 
been committed, and in default of payment, the said justices 
shall issue their warrant of distress against the goods and 
chattels of the offender ; or in default of sufficient distress, he 
shall be imprisoned three months. 4 

N. B. — All Acts and parts of Acts relating to registration, 
nominations, or elections, as well as duration of Parliament 
and sittings of members, must be repealed. 5 

1 The revised " Charter " reads : " three years." 

2 The revised " Charter " provides for deprivation of rights for three 
years. 

3 The revised " Charter " reads : " or, in default of payment, twelve 
months' imprisonment." 

* The revised " Charter " reads : " shall be imprisoned according to 
the provisions of this Act." 
3 The revised " Charter " reads : " are hereby repealed." 



APPENDIX C 

" National Petition 

" Unto the Honorable the Commons of the United Kingdom 
of Great Britain and Ireland in Parliament assembled, the 
Petition of the undersigned, their suffering countrymen, 

" Humbly Sheweth, 

" That we, your petitioners, dwell in a land whose merchants 
are noted for enterprise, whose manufacturers are very skil- 
ful, and whose workmen are proverbial for their industry. 

" The land itself is goodly, the soil rich, and the temperature 
wholesome; it is abundantly furnished with the materials of 
commerce and trade ; it has numerous and convenient harbors ; 
in facility of internal communication it exceeds all others. 

" For three-and-twenty years we have enjoyed a profound 
peace. 

" Yet, with all these elements of national prosperity, and 
with every disposition and capacity to take advantage of 
them, we find ourselves overwhelmed with public and private 
suffering. 

" We are bowed down under a load of taxes ; which, not- 
withstanding, fall greatly short of the wants of our rulers; 
our traders are trembling on the verge of bankruptcy; our 
workmen are starving; capital brings no profit, and labor no 
remuneration; the home of the artificer is desolate, and the 
warehouse of the pawnbroker is full ; the workhouse is 
crowded, and the manufactory is deserted. 

" We have looked on every side, we have searched diligently 
in order to find out the causes of a distress so sore and so 
long continued. 

" We can discover none in nature, or in Providence. 
234 [234 



235] APPENDIX C 235 

" Heaven has dealt graciously by the people ; but the fool- 
ishness of our rulers has made the goodness of God of none 
effect. 

" The energies of a mighty kingdom have been wasted in 
building up the power of selfish and ignorant men, and its 
resources squandered for their aggrandisement. 

" The good of a party has been advanced to the sacrifice of 
the good of the nation ; the few have governed for the interest 
of the few, while the interest of the many has been neglected, 
or insolently and tyrannously trampled upon. 

" It was the fond expectation of the people that a remedy 
for the greater part, if not for the whole, of their grievances, 
would be found in the Reform Act of 1832. 

" They were taught to regard that Act as a wise means to 
a worthy end ; as the machinery of an improved legislation, 
when the will of the masses would be at length potential. 

" They have been bitterly and basely deceived. 

" The fruit which looked so fair to the eye has turned to 
dust and ashes when gathered. 

" The Reform Act has effected a transfer of power from 
one domineering faction to another, and left the people as 
helpless as before. 

" Our slavery has been exchanged for an apprenticeship to 
liberty, which has aggravated the painful feeling of our social 
degradation, by adding to it the sickening of still deferred hope. 

" We come before your Honorable House to tell you, with 
all humility, that this state of things must not be permitted to 
continue; that it cannot long continue without very seriously 
endangering the stability of the throne and the peace of the 
kingdom ; and that if by God's help and all lawful and consti- 
tutional appliances an end can be put to it, we are fully re- 
solved that it shall speedily come to an end. 

" We tell your Honorable House that the capital of the 
master must no longer be deprived of its due reward; that 
the laws which make food dear, and those which by making 
money scarce, make labor cheap, must be abolished ; that taxa- 
tion must be made to fall on property, not on industry; that 



236 APPENDIX C [236 

the good of the many, as it is the only legitimate end, so must 
it be the sole study of the Government. 

" As a preliminary essential to these and other requisite 
changes ; as means by which alone the interests of the people 
can be effectually vindicated and secured, we demand that 
those interests be confided to the keeping of the people. 

" When the state calls for defenders, when it calls for 
money, no consideration of poverty or ignorance can be 
pleaded in refusal or delay of the call. 

" Required as we are, universally, to support and obey the 
laws, nature and reason entitle us to demand that in the mak- 
ing of the laws, the universal voice should be implicitly 
listened to. 

" We perform the duties of freemen ; we must have the 
privileges of freemen. 

" W T E DEMAND UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE. 

" The suffrage, to be exempt from the corruption of the 
wealthy and the violence of the powerful, must be secret. 

" The assertion of our right necessarily involves the power 
of its uncontrolled exercise. 

" We demand the ballot. 

" The connection between the representatives and the people, 
to be beneficial, must be intimate. 

" The legislative and constituent powers, for correction and 
for instruction, ought to be brought into frequent contact. 

" Errors which are comparatively light when susceptible of 
a speedy popular remedy, may produce the most disastrous 
effects when permitted to grow inveterate through years of 
compulsory endurance. 

" To public safety as well as public confidence, frequent 
elections are essential. 

" We demand annual parliaments. 

" With power to choose, and freedom in choosing, the range 
of our choice must be unrestricted. 

" We are compelled, by the existing laws, to take for our 
representatives men who are incapable of appreciating our 
difficulties, or who have little sympathy with them; merchants 



22,7] APPENDIX C 237 

who have retired from trade, and no longer feel its harassings ; 
proprietors of land who are alike ignorant of its evils and 
their cure; lawyers, by whom the honors of the senate are 
sought after only as means of obtaining notice in the courts. 

" The labors of a representative who is sedulous in the dis- 
charge of his duty are numerous and burdensome. 

" It is neither just, nor reasonable, nor safe, that they 
should continue to be gratuitously rendered. 

" We demand that in the future election of members of your 
Honorable House the approbation of the constituency shall be 
the sole qualification; and that to every representative so 
chosen shall be assigned, out of the public taxes, a fair and 
adequate remuneration for the time which he is called upon 
to devote to the public service. 

" Finally, we would most earnestly impress on your Honor- 
able House that this petition has not been dictated by any 
idle love of change; that it springs out of no inconsiderate 
attachment to fanciful theories; but that it is the result of 
much and long deliberation and of convictions, which the 
events of each succeeding year tend more and more to 
strengthen. 

" The management of this mighty kingdom has hitherto 
been a subject for contending factions to try their selfish ex- 
periments upon. 

" We have felt the consequences in our sorrowful experi- 
ence — short glimmerings of uncertain enjoyment swallowed up 
by long and dark seasons of suffering. 

" If the self-government of the people should not remove 
their distresses, it will at least remove their repinings. 

" Universal suffrage will, and it alone can, bring true and 
lasting peace to the nation ; we firmly believe that it will also 
bring prosperity. 

"May it, therefore, please your Honorable House to take 
this our petition into your most serious consideration ; and to 
use your utmost endeavors, by all constitutional means, to have 
a law passed granting to every male of lawful age, sane mind, 
and unconvicted of crime the right of voting for members of 



238 APPENDIX C [238 

Parliament; and directing all future elections of members of 
Parliament to be in the way of secret ballot; and ordaining 
that the duration of Parliaments so chosen shall in no case 
exceed one year; and abolishing all property qualifications in 
the members ; and providing for their due remuneration while 
in attendance on their Parliamentary duties. 
" And your petitioners, &c." 



APPENDIX D 

A Dialogue on War, Between a " Moral Force " Whig, 
and a Chartist, by Bronterre x 

Quid Nunc: Well, Bronterre, so we are going to have 
a war at last. 

Bronterre: To have a war! You talk of war as if it were 
a possession, an acquisition, or a means of acquisition. But 
how do you know we are going to have a war ? 

Quid Nunc: Why, all the newspapers say so; but you, it 
seems, don't like war. 

Bronterre: Don't like war! Why the deuce should I like 
war? Why should I like murder and robbery, for murder 
and robbery's sake ; and what is war but murder and robbery ? 
But whom are we going to war with? 

Quid Nunc: Ah! that is not yet decided on. It may be 
with Russia, or with Canada, or with France, or for that 
matter, with all three. I only wish it may be with some of 
them, and soon: for allow me to say, I think differently of 
war from what you do. Wars are often just and necessary ; 
or why be at the expense of maintaining fleets and armies? 
Besides, a war is wanted just now, to give a stir, a fillip, a 
new impetus to the country. We never had such prosperity 
as during the American and French wars. Can you deny that ? 

Bronterre: You perfectly astonish me! You who pro- 
fess to be a thorough-going liberal, — a moral force man, — 
a march of intellect man, — a greatest happiness principle man, 
and so forth, you! to talk thus of war, as if it were mere pas- 
time, or a mere paltry commercial question of pounds, shill- 

1 McDouall's Chartist and Republican Journal, nos. 21 and 22, 1841. 
239] 2 39 



24 APPENDIX D [240 

ings and pence. Hang me, my good friend, if I can at all 
comprehend your slaughtering liberality. As for the broken 
arms and broken legs — the bursting of bombs scattering death 
all around — the sacking and burning of whole towns and 
villages, and ravishing of wives and virgin daughters — whole 
fields strewn with dead bodies — hospitals crowded with agon- 
ized and dying wretches, and their hardly less wretched sur- 
vivors, exposed to every imaginable hardship and privation — 
exposed to the war of elements as well as the war of bombs 
and muskets — and often obliged to feed on cats, rats, and 
stinking horse-flesh; and as for these and the like pretty 
incidents of war, they evidently form no item of your profit- 
and-loss account. You are too liberal, I suppose, or too much 
a man of the world to regard trifles of that sort, more es- 
pecially as you can afford to keep your own carcase out of the 
way of the howitzers. But tell me, my good friend, how it 
happens, that you, being a disciple and admirer of Joseph 
Hume, make no distinction between fighting against Canada, 
and fighting against France or Russia? Do you mean to say 
it is quite indifferent to you with whom we go to war, pro- 
vided only that we give a " new fillip or impetus to the coun- 
try ? " Do you — 

Quid Nunc : Are you done ? 

Bronterre: Go on. 

Quid Nunc: By jingo, Bronterre, if I did not know you so 
well, and if you did not use " hell " and the " devil " so often, 
I should almost fancy you to be a Quaker, you have such a 
pious horror of war. But what use is there railing at what 
neither you nor I can prevent? There cannot be war, of 
course, without killing and wounding, but as there were wars 
before you and I were born, so believe me, there will be wars 
after you and I are dead. Now for your question, (and mind 
that you answer mine in turn), you ask why I, a liberal, make 
no distinction between fighting against Canada, and fighting 
against France and Russia? I do make a distinction. On 
political grounds, I should be sorry to see a war against the 



241 ] APPENDIX D 24I 

Canadian insurgents, because I approve their cause ; but I 
desire one on my brother's account, who being a saddler and 
harness maker, had recently a Government contract for the 
supply of saddles and harness for our Canadian troops, and 
who is promised another job or two if the war goes on. 
Now, having frankly answered your question, do you as 
frankly answer me those three: ist. If our Indian possessions 
be attacked by Russian intrigue and Russian arms, is it not 
your duty, and the duty of all true patriots to assist in de- 
fending them, and by war, if necessary? 2nd. If our Mexican 
trade be similarly endangered by France, or our Mediterranean 
trade by the same power, are we not similarly justified in 
defending both against France, and by zvar, if necessary ? 3rd. 
If, in both these cases, you disapprove of war, in what case 
would you approve of it; or would you, in all possible cases, 
and under all circumstances, dissuade the working classes from 
participating in war? No declamation, now! But straight- 
forward answers. 

Bronterre: Well, then, I shall be as frank as you have 
been. To your first question I reply, — Let all who have pos- 
sessions in India, or all who profit by what you call our 
" Indian possessions ", be off to India, and fight a thousand 
battles for them, if they like. Let the proprietors of the East 
India Stock, let the owners of East India merchantmen, let 
those English and Irish merchants and brokers, and writers 
and underwriters, and governors and judges, and naval and 
military officers, and liver-colored nabobs, and all such other 
aristocrats and commercial speculators as have either wrung, 
or are now wringing, fortunes out of Hindoo sweat and 
misery — let all such persons go and fight for our " Indian 
possessions ", but let them not mock our degradation by asking 
us, working people, to fight along with them, either for our 
" possessions " in India, or anywhere else, seeing that we do 
not possess a single acre of ground, or any other description 
of property in our own country, much less colonies, or " pos- 
sessions ", in any other, having been robbed of everything we 



242 APPENDIX D [ 242 

ever earned, by the upper and middle classes. Let the parties 
I have described go and fight their own battles against Russia, 
who, for all we care, may seize " our Indian possessions " 
tomorrow if she likes. We, the working people of Great 
Britain and Ireland, have no interest whatever in defending 
those " possessions ", nor any colonial possessions, nor any 
other description of possessions belonging to men who have 
robbed us of our political rights and franchises. On the con- 
trary, we have an interest in prospective loss or ruin of all 
such " possessions ", seeing they are but instruments of power 
in the hands of our domestic oppressors. Yes, yes, by all 
means, let Russia seize them, if she can, and we shall but 
thank God and Russia for the seizure. 

To your 2nd question, my reply is — I care not how soon 
France engrosses or destroys " our Mexican trade ", nor to 
what extent her Algerine conquests may operate to the pre- 
judice of our commerce in the Levant or elsewhere. I should 
rather see the whole of that commerce utterly extinguished, 
than see one solitary working man lose a leg or an arm, in 
war, to defend it. As commerce is now conducted, it is not 
only without profit, but it is absolutely ruinous to the pro- 
ductive classes of this country. When England had hardly 
any foreign commerce at all, (in the year 1495), an English 
laborer's weekly wages would buy 199 pints of wheat, and an 
artisan's weekly wages 292 pints of wheat. We have now 
more foreign trade than any other three nations in the world, 
and, at least one hundred times more of it than we had in 
1495 5 y et an English laborer's weekly wages will not bring 
him, in this present year, more than 80 or 90 pints of wheat, 
and an artisan's hardly 150 pints; not to speak of the difficulty 
of getting employment, — a difficulty unknown in 1495. Talk 
of our foreign trade, indeed ! And fighting for it, too ! Let 
those who profit by it go and fight for it. Let the merchants 
and shipowners, and big manufacturers and capitalists, who 
gain rapid fortunes by it, let these persons go and fight for it. 
Or let our aristocracy, to whom it brings tropical fruits, and 
oriental perfumes, and rich furs and cashmeres, and pearls 



243] APPENDIX D 243 

and pieces, and shells and turtle, and delicious wines, and 
cordials, and ivory and lace, and silks and satins, and turkey 
carpets, and Chinese ornaments, and birds of paradise, etc., etc., 
let these parties go and fight for it. To us, the working 
people, it brings next to nothing in exchange for the forty or 
fifty millions' worth of goods we are every year sending 
abroad. The only commodities the working class want from 
abroad are necessaries, and these are excluded by our Corn 
Laws. No, no, Mr. Quid Nunc! If Englishmen are to fight 
now-a-days, it must be for something better than you imagine. 
But no fighting for " our foreign trade " ! No fighting for it 
at any rate until we have obtained our political rights and 
reformed our commercial system. I am no enemy of com- 
merce, if commerce means what it ought to mean; but perdi- 
tion, eternal perdition to the system which, under that name, 
is now impoverishing and brutalising the largest and best part 
of the human family. 

To your 3d question my reply is — I have so inveterate and 
mortal an antipathy to war (regarding it as but another name 
for murder and robbery on a large scale), that only the direst 
necessity could induce me to be, under any circumstances, its 
advocate ; yet, there is one great barbarous Power in Europe 
against which I should gladly see a war got up even this 
very day. 

Quid Nunc: You mean Russia? 

Bronterre: Softly, my good Sir. I mean a power more 
barbarous and barbarising than all other living despotisms put 
together, that of Russia included. 

Quid Nunc : By the ghost of Nicholas ! that is impossible ; 
but name it. 

Bronterre: I will neither name it nor describe it. You 
being a disciple of Hume and Grote, and I being the very 
antipodes of that school, we cannot possibly understand one 
another. Were I simply to name it — you would laugh out- 
right, and to describe it I am incapable. But, as I perceive 



244 APPENDIX D [ 244 

your curiosity is on the rack I will leave a copy of the last 
week's Northern Liberator, and from its leading article you 
may possibly be able to form some faint idea of the power I 
allude to. Farewell ! 



The article referred to describes the English ruling classes 
as " more despotic than despotism." Enumerating the evil 
effects of the Corn Laws, the New Poor Law, the factory 
system, the lack of universal suffrage, and the like, Bronterre 
concludes his philippic in his characteristic style: 

Could despotism do more than fill the country with starva- 
tion, poverty, tears, and blood; could despotism do more than 
cover it with prisons, police houses, correction houses, peni- 
tentiaries, and Poor Law bastiles, where cruelties the most 
atrocious and crimes the most unnatural are perpetrated upon 
the wretched people by the horrid officials of these dens ; could 
despotism the most devilish do more than treat a people thus, 
and then systematically refuse to listen to their complaints, 
and treat their tears with menaces and their cries with abusive 
calamities; in short, could the despotism of Nero, Tiberius, 
Helagabalus and Herod, joined in one, do more than invert 
and remorselessly carry into execution such a system as now 
exists in England? . . . Men of England, and of Scotland, 
and of Ireland! will you ever again shed your blood in de- 
fence of such a system? If you do, you deserve more than 
you have already suffered. But I wrong you by the question. 
I forget, at the moment, that by recent demonstrations in favor 
of Chartism you had virtually sealed the doom of that system. 
Your long and bloody anti-Jacobin war against France was 
the last you will ever engage in to uphold exclusive govern- 
ment. Henceforth if you go to war, it shall be to fight for 
yourselves. No more anti- Jacobin wars! No coalition min- 
istry! No Tory-strong government! That's the ticket. 



INDEX 



Aitken, William, 138 

Ashley, Lord, 70, 71, 73 

Attwood, Thomas, leader of Birming- 
ham Political Union, 36, 120; his 
view of the Reform Act, 37; opposi- 
tion to New Poor Law, 43, 44; life 
and views, 120, 121, 180, 182; his 
plan of a sacred month, 139; and the 
National Petition, 153, 165, 179, 180, 
183; and the Manifesto, 170 

Babeuf, 113, 118, 119 

Bam ford, Samuel, 31 

Bank of England, 173 

Bedchamber Plot, 40 

Benbow, William, 205 

Benefit clubs, 32, 75 

Beniowski, Major, 151 

Bentham, Jeremy, 63 

Birmingham Currency School, 120 

Birmingham Journal, The, 153 

Birmingham Political Union, 36, 91, 92, 
120, 139, 142, 153 

Birmingham Town Council on the Bull 
Ring attack, 186 

Botanical meetings, 32 

Bowring, Dr., 91 

Boycott, 170 

British Association for Promoting Co- 
operative Knowledge, 102 

Bronterre on the Reform Bill, 37; on 
the New Poor Law, 50, 51, 69; on 
universal suffrage, 81, 82, 84, 114; 
on the petition of the London Work- 
ingmen's Association, 89, 90; on 
th eor e tical differences, 101; and 
O'Connor, 107, 108; life and views, 
1 12-120, 123: Nationalization of 
land, 115; and Lovett, 114, 120; and 
Harney, 133, 159; on previous peti- 
tions, 82, 154; and the General Con- 
vention, 157; on physical force, 158, 
172; at public demonstrations, 172, 
173; on the sacred month, 183, 185; 
sentenced, 205 

Brougham, Lord, on the Whig rule, 39, 
40; and the New Poor Law, 52, 53, 
141; on behalf of Lovett, 178; on 
behalf of John Frost, 203 

245] 



Bull Ring, 175, 176, 186, 187; riots 

176, 178, 188, 189 
Buonarroti, 113, 118, 119 
Burdett, Francis, 26, 120 
Burke, Edmund, 24, 25, 28 
Byron, 140 

Campbell, John, Attorney-General, 202, 
203 

Carlyle, Thomas, 21, 39, 54, 55, 206 

Carpenter's Political Pamphlets, 113 

Cartwright, John, 23, 24 

Central Committee of radical unions, 
106 

Chamber of Commerce, 80 

Child Labor, 73, 74, m 

Cleave, John, 84, 89, 91, 158 

Cobbett, William, 28-31; opposi- 
tion to New Poor Law, 43, 50, 53, 
66, 67; maltreated, 76; on the issue 
of the working class, 81 ; and Att- 
wood, 121; and Frost, 137 

Collective bargaining, right of, 77 

Collins, John, 177, 186-9 

Combination Laws, 75 

Communism, 109 

Consolidated National Trades Union, 
104 

Constitutional Society, 23 

Cooper, Thomas, 107 

Corn Laws, 27, 34, 63, 182 

Crime, 66, 67, 74 

Cromwell, 22 

Crawford, W. S. 90, 91, 95 

Crown and Anchor meetings, 90, 158, 
164 

Demonstrations, 32, 139, 140, 142, 143, 
146-149, 153, 172, 173, 189 

Destructive, The, 113 

Disraeli on the Whig rule, 40; opposi- 
tion to New Poor Law, 43; on the 
National Petition, 179, 182, 183 

Distress, 28, 55-69, 93, 98, 1 38 

Douglas, R. K., 153 

Duke of Richmond, 23-6 

Dundee Advertiser, The, 1 50 

Dwelling conditions, 57, 58, 66 

245 



246 



INDEX 



Edgeworth, Lowell, 112 
Elliot, Ebenezer, 59 
Emigration, 56, 57 

Fennell, Alfred Owen, 175 

Fielden, John, 91, 147 

Foreign Affairs Committee, 138 

Fowle, F. W. 47 

Fox, Charles James, 24, 27 

French Encyclopedists, 23 

French Revolution, 24, 25, 33, 134, 153, 
157, 181, 193 

Frost, John, life and views, 136-137; 
and the Crown and Anchor meeting, 
15 8, 164; and Lord Russell, 162-165; 
and public demonstrations, 173; on 
the sacred month, 183; seeking miti- 
gation of Vincent's treatment, 190, 
191; and the Newport Riot, 191, 192, 
195-7, T 99> ^ ast P u blic letter, 192- 
194; trial and sentence, 200, 20 1, 
204; pardoned, 204 

General Convention of the Industrious 

Classes, 143-186 
General Council of the Convention, 185 
General strike, see sacred month 
Godwin, William, 77 
Goulburn, Sergeant, 187, 188 
Grand National Consolidated Trades 

Union, 80 
Gray, John, 77 

Habeas corpus act, 27, 31 

Hall, Charles, 77 

Hampden Club, 28, 30, 31 

Harcourt, Maurice, 47 

Hardy, Thomas, 26 

H a r n e y , George Julian, prominent 
member of trade unions, 84; his life 
and views, 132-134; at torch light 
meetings, 148; and the General Con- 
vention, 157; at the Crown and 
Anchor meeting, 158; on Chartist 
elections, 159, 160; on the ulterior 
measures, 170; at public demonstra- 
tions, 172; in the riot-week, 178 

Harvey, D. W. 91 

Hetherington, Henry, 84, 87, 89, 91, 
95, 121, 158 

Hindley, Charles, 91 

Hodgskin, Thomas, 77 

Hollo way Head, 178 

Holyoake, George Jacob, 105, 108, 139, 
150, 161, 178 

House of Lords, reform of, 91 



Hume, Joseph, 90 

Hunt, Henry, 32, 35, 36, 76, 112 

Industrial Revolution, 74 

Irish famine, 55; emigration, 56 

Jacobinism, 26, ill 

Jones, William, 195, 199, 201, 204 

Kay, James P., 47, 60, 72 

Labor legislation, 70, 71 

Leader, J. T., 90, 91, 204I 

Levellers, 22, 25 

Lock-outs, 80 

London Cooperative Trading Associa- 
tion, 102 

London Corresponding Society, 26-27 

London Democrat, The, 133, 151, 152, 
159, 170 

London Democratic Association, no, 
in, 133, 157 

London Mercury, The, 113 

London Times, The, 49 

London Working Men's Association, 
84, 88, 89, 98, 99, 104, 106, no, 120, 
121, 122, 137, 143, 156; addresses, 
86, 87, 91, 92-95, 100, 129, 145; pe- 
tition for new Constitution, 89; Crown 
and Anchor meeting, 90; and the 
committee of twelve, 91, 95; and the 
Chartist agitation, 97, 135, 140; and 
Stephens, 129; influence on the wane, 
146 

Lovett, William, prominent member of 
trade unions, 84; on the London 
Working Men's Association, 86; sec- 
retary of the L. W. M. A., 87; author 
of the petition of the L. W. M. A., 90; 
at theCrown and Anchor meeting, 90, 
91 ; correspondence with Lord Rus- 
sell, 92, 93; author of the People's 
Charter, 95, 104; life and views, 102- 
105; and O'Connor, 107, 192; and 
Bronterre, 114; and Hetherington, 
121; and Stephens, 122, 129; his res- 
olution at the Palace Yard meeting, 
145; and the General Convention, 
156-158; secretary of the General 
Convention, 156; on the Manifesto, 
170; his arrest, 177; his trial and 
defence, 186, 187, 188; his imprison- 
ment, 189, 190; on the Newport Riot, 
191, 192 

McDouall, 176 
Macerone, Colonel, 151 



INDEX 



247 



Manchester Massacre, 32 

Manifesto of the General Convention, 

166-168, 170 
Marat, ill, 133, 156 
Marsden, Richard, 156 
Melbourne, Lord, 36, 61, 203 
Metropolitan police, 176, 179, 187 
Metropolitan Political Union, 103 
Mill, James, 47 

Monetary reform, see Attwood 
Moore, R., 91 
Moral force, 99, 120, 122, 142, 153, (see 

also Lovett) 
Morning Chronicle, 188 
Mortality, 65, 66 

National Petition, 143, 145, 153-159, 

165, 174, 179-183 
National Political Union, 33, 36 
National Reformer, The, see Bronterre 
National Union of the Working Classes, 

35. i°4 

Nationalization of land, 101, 115 
Newport Riot, 190-192, 194-199, 206 
North, Lord, 24 

Northern Star, The, 107, 108, 112, 113, 
152 

O'Brien, see Bronterre 

O'Connell, Daniel, on the New Poor 
Law, 44; and the People's Charter, 
go, 91, 95; and O'Connor, 106 

O'Connor, Feargus, on the New Poor 
Law and machinery, 51, 52, no; on 
Chartism, 70; life and views, 105- 
112, 122; and Lovett, 107, 192; and 
Bronterre, 114; and Attwood, 121; 
and Stephens, 123; and Harney, 133; 
speeches, 141-144; and the London 
Working Men's Association, 143; at 
public demonstrations, 146-148, 172- 
3; and the General Convention, 158, 

166, 172; on the sacred month, 185; 
and the Newport Riot, 192; sen- 
tenced, 205 

O'Connor, Roderick, 105, 107 

O'Connor, Roger, 105 

Oastler, Richard, 70, 123 

Operative, The, 113 

Owen, Robert, 77, 78, 80, 103, 118 

Owenism, 78, 84 

Paine, Thomas, 26-7, 137 
Palace Yard demostration, 143, 149 
People's Charter, publication of, 95, 97 
Phillips, Thomas, mayor of Newport, 
197, 200 



Physical force, 100, in, 123, 132, 142- 

4, 149, 152, 156, 170, 178. (See also 

Harney and Stephens) 
Pitt, the Earl of Chatham, 22 
Pitt, William, 22, 24, 26, 27 
Place, Francis, 36, 76, 78, 95, 102, 104, 

106, 107, 123, 189 
Pollack, Frederick, 203 
Poor Law, New, 39, 40, 43, 55, 66, 68, 

69,81, 106, no, in, 123, 126, 129, 

138, 141, 147, 153, 193 
Poor Law, Old, 40, 42 
Poor relief, 54, 68 

Poor Man's Guardian, The, 35, 1 13, 121 
Prentice, Archibald, 61 

Prorogation of Parliament, 91, 159 

Reform bills, 22, 23, 24, 27 

Reform Bill of 1832, 33, 35-37, 63, 92, 
120, 175 

Ricardo, 34 

Riot Act, 176 

Riots, 28, 31, 176, 202. (See Bull Ring 
and Newport Riot) 

Robespierre, in, 113, 119 

Roebuck, J. A., 72, 90, 91, 95, 107 

Ratten House of Commons, The, 88, 89 

Rotundism, 84, 104 

Rousseau, 23 

Russell, Lord John, hero of Reform 
Bill, 36, 39; "Finality Jack," 39; 
letter to, on children in the work- 
house, 48; correspondence with 
Lovett, 92, 93; on the torch-light 
demonstrations, 149; and John Frost 
162-5; on the General Convention, 
165; his letter to magistrates, 166; 
on the National Petition, 180-182 

St. Just, in 

Sacred Month, 139, 142, 169, 173, 183-5 

Sadler, Michael Thomas, 70 

Scott, Walter, 112 

Seligman, Edwin R. A., 9, 76, 78 

Senior, Nassau W., on the old Poor 
Laws, 41 ; on dwelling conditions, 
66; on hours of labor, 71, 72, 74; on 
labor combinations, 79 

Shell, George, 199 

Shelley, 32, 33 

Short Time Committee, 71 

Simultaneous meetings, 168, 169, 172, 

173. 175 
" Six Acts" of 1819, 75 
" Six points," 21, 24, 90, 91, 138, 148 
Smith, Adam, 56, 75 



248 



INDEX 



Smith, Sydney, 34, 38 

Socialism, 84, 109, 133 

Socialists, 71, 77 

Society for Constitutional Information, 

24 
Society of the Friends of the People, 23 
Society of the Supporters of the Bill of 

Rights, 22 
Southern Star, 113 
Spencean Philanthropists, 31 
Spies, 26, 161 
Stanhope, 23 
Stephens, J. R., 122, 146, 148, 149; 

life and views, T23-133; indictment, 

165; sentenced, 189 

Taylor, Dr., 176, 177 

Ten Hour Movement, 71 

Terrorism, see Physical force 

Thistlewood, 33 

Thompson, Colonel T. P., 65, 90, 91, 

95 

Thompson, William, 77 

Tindal, Nicholas, Chief Justice, 200, 

202 
Torch-light processions, 148-150 
Tories, opposed to New Poor Law, 53; 
attitude towards labor legislation, 70, 
71 ; defeated Liberals, 95; and Ro- 
tundists, 104; and Whigs, 8, 166, 
168; and the National Petition, 179 
Trade Unionism, 75, 77, 78, 80, 84, 104 
Twopenny Despatch, 89, 113, 121 

Ulterior measures, 156, 168, 169, 170, 
173. 175 



Underground societies, 138 
Unemployment, see Distress 
United Irishman, 105, 107 

Victoria, Queen, 92, 140, 187, 203 
Vincent, Henry, prominent member of 
trade unions, 84; and the London 
Working Men's Association, 89, 135; 
member of committee of twelve, 91 ; 
as an orator, 135, 142; in the West, 
147; organizer of female associations, 
147, 150; in Wales, 147, 150, 160; 
arrest, 165; imprisonment, 190; and 
Welsh rising, 191 

Watson, J., 91 

Wages, 60, 64 

Wakley, T., 91 

Welsh Chartists, see Newport Riot and 
Vincent 

Westgate Hotel, 197-9, 204 

Western Vindicator, The, 200 

Wheat, price of, 28, 63 

Whigs, 8, 23-4, 34-46, pledges, 63, 142; 
denunciation of, 69, 92, 166, 168, 179; 
hostile attitude towards labor legisla- 
tion, 70,71; opposition to Liberals, 
95; and Rotundists, 104; and the 
National Petition, 179, 180; victory 
of, 206 

William IV, 91 

Williams, Zephaniah, 195, 199, 201, 204 

Wilson, William Carus, 49 

Woman labor, 73 

Workhouse-test, 42 



VITA 

The author of this monograph was born May n, 1882, 
in Volhynia, Russia. The son of a Hebrew scholar, he was 
taught Hebrew, Talmud and the rabbinical literature up 
to the age of fourteen. He was then allowed to' take up a 
course in a Russian classical gymnasium. In the Spring of 
1903, he emigrated to Switzerland and from there, in 
September of the same year, to the United States. In 1906 
he was admitted as a senior student to Columbia College 
and, upon his graduation in 1907 with the degree of A. B., 
registered under the Faculty of Political Science of Columbia 
University, choosing Economics as a major and Sociology 
and Philosophy as minors. He received the degree of A.M. 
in 1908. In 1907 and 1908 he was awarded University 
Scholarships in the Department of Economics. In his post- 
graduate studies he took courses with Professors Seligman, 
John B. Clark, Seager, Giddings, H. L. Moore, Simkhovitch, 
Mussey, Dewey, Montague, and others and attended the 
Seminar in Economics, In 1909 he was employed by the 
National Monetary Commission. From October, 19 10, to 
February, 1912, he was connected with the work of the 
Tariff Board in Washington, D. C. He then held the 
position of Expert Special Agent with the New York State 
Department of Labor until September, 1914, when he ac- 
cepted the office of general secretary and executive director 
af a fraternal death and sick benefit insurance corporation. 

249 



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